The Nominations and Elections Committee was serving double duty last night -- both deliberating on a campaign violation charge and announcing the results of the 2004 spring election season.
College sophomore Eric Rechtschaffen was cleared of the charges brought by seven members of the College Democrats. The claim alleged that Rechtschaffen -- who was running for a seat on the Undergraduate Assembly and serves as the executive director of the College Republicans -- violated the NEC's Fair Practice Code by neglecting to state his full name in an application for endorsement that he submitted to the Penn Democrats.
College Democrat Executive Board members Rich Eisenberg and Dan De Rosa addressed the NEC and a gathered audience in Houston Hall, outlining their complaint against Rechtschaffen.
He "violated the equity of the election process," said Eisenberg, a College junior. "He deprived us of knowledge of his identity."
However, Rechtschaffen insisted that he never intended to deceive the College Democrats, and that it was completely within his rights as a candidate to sign the application e-mail with the name "Eric Mordecai" -- his middle name -- instead of "Eric Rechtschaffen."
"I could have run as Eric Runningman 10,000," Rechtschaffen said, though De Rosa and Eisenberg pointed out that all of Rechtschaffen's other campaigning efforts, including attempts to gain endorsement by other clubs, were done under his first and last name only.
Defending the use of his middle name, Rechtschaffen said that he saw Mordecai as "a name that connotes leadership, respect and values," and that he wanted to project that image to the College Democrats.
Though Eisenberg assured those present that the charge was not "a matter of partisan rivalry," the open forum did seem to be politically charged, with both political groups clustered on opposite sides of Bodek Lounge.
"I didn't think Eric deserved to be disqualified because the College Democrats screwed up their endorsement process," said Wharton junior David Copley, chairman of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans. "Next year, I'd encourage them to do a little bit more research before endorsing their candidates."
But even after hours of arguing and a ruling in Rechtschaffen's favor, the NEC announced that the candidate had not received enough votes in last week's election to win a seat on the UA.
Many other students found themselves in a similar position as self-described "student government junkie" and NEC Vice Chairwoman Rochelle Behrens announced the results of the Class Board and UA elections last night.
College junior Matt Klapper will serve as next year's senior class president, College sophomore Pierre Gooding will lead the Class of 2006 and Andy Kaplan will return as president of the Class of 2007.
Twenty-five representatives were also elected to serve on the UA, with 2,692 undergraduates taking part in the election.
In contrast with past years -- such as last spring, when all UA candidates who had previously held positions retained them -- this season saw five former UA members and two former Class Board officers lose their titles, making room for a new wave of Penn student government leaders.
There are still positions on the Senior Class Board that are waiting to be filled, as no one ran for secretary or Engineering representative.
All four referenda items were passed, with 2,376 students voting, which constitutes 24 percent of the undergraduate body. That figure puts participation above the requisite 20 percent needed to validate the results.
The passed referenda include internal changes to several UA positions, a new formula for calculating the number of seats allocated to each school and some wording alterations. The most significant addition may be the newly established ability of the UA to hold closed-door sessions to determine their Executive Board.
