Only six running for top five spots on UA

The Undergraduate Assembly will elect its new leadership tonight, but the competition is scarce.

Six UA members -- who were re-elected in the student body's general election earlier this semester -- are running for five executive board positions.

Only one candidate, Vice Chairman of External Affairs Brett Thalmann, is running for chairman, to replace College senior Rachel Fersh.

Thalmann expressed mixed feelings about the lack of competition, saying that the number of people who run for executive board changes from year to year depending on the strength of the rising senior class.

"It's a combination of things in terms of people going abroad and just the way things shaped up over the years," the College junior said.

The executive board leads the UA and sets the agenda for its weekly meetings. It includes a chairman, executive vice chairman, vice chairman of external affairs, treasurer and secretary.

Fersh, who ran against one other UA member for chairwoman, said that the lack of competition would normally make her nervous, but says she isn't worried this year.

"Obviously, I think that competition usually strengthens an organization," she said. "However, I'm really impressed with all six of these candidates."

But scholars who study elections were less optimistic about having a single candidate for the most powerful position on a body.

Political Science professor Rogers Smith said that while an unchallenged candidate is not necessarily less representative, that person has less incentive to become informed about the issues.

Smith added that a small number of candidates "usually indicates a certain level of apathy of the participants in that community in the political process."

College sophomore Sarah Abroms is running against College junior Georgiana Cavendish for the executive vice chairmanship in the only contested race of the election.

Abroms said that she looks forward to working with the UA next year regardless of the outcome of the election.

"The UA body will be great next year no matter what," she said. "The UA is not only defined by executive, but also by the body."

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