Last week, students were unexpectedly unable to vote in Hillel elections as a result of a change in voting eligibility.
This year, the Hillel Steering Committee made membership on the Shabbat Shalom Weekly listserv — which reaches 2,500 to 2,600 people — the one criterion for eligibility to vote in the elections. According to Hillel Director Rabbi Mike Uram, this was done in order to avoid having a registration period for voting — which has been used in the past — in which people unconnected to Hillel in any way would be able to sign up and potentially “game the system.”
“The problem was that we overestimated the effectiveness of that listserv — there were a number of students who really wanted to vote who weren’t on it,” Uram said.
College sophomore Leah Steinberg — who is a 34th Street editor — was surprised when she discovered she was unable to cast a vote, despite being an active participant in Hillel.
“I would’ve wanted to vote … I tried multiple times this semester and last semester to get on the listserv and couldn’t — there must have been a computer glitch or something,” she said.
“Upon making the decision to use only the Shabbat Shalom Weekly listserv, we expected that there would be some people invested in Jewish life at Penn who would not be on this listserv,” College senior and Hillel president Josh Belfer wrote in an email. “We have spoken to everyone who was confused by this system, and I appreciated hearing their feelings and suggestions for elections … [which] will be considered when the incoming steering board discusses future elections.”
While some students found themselves unable to vote in elections, others were surprised that they were being contacted by candidates to vote, despite not being members of the Shabbot Shalom Weekly listserv.
Wharton sophomore Siteng Ma was “a bit taken aback” upon receiving an email from a candidate asking him to vote in the Hillel elections. “I’m not Jewish or involved in Hillel in any way,” he said.
“Hillel is not exclusive to Jewish people — hundreds of people are involved in our social justice groups, [participate in] interfaith dialogue and eat at the Hillel dining hall,” Uram said. “The issue is not whether or not Jewish people voted — it is that the people who are touched by the things we do should be able to vote as well.”
In light of the confusion regarding voting policies, Hillel will work to develop a consistent election process in the future. “Going forward, I think that there will be a lot of talk about starting an election committee and perhaps writing bylaws so that we can create a fair voting system,” Belfer wrote.
“One of the challenges of having an election for a centralized leadership body is that in reality, Hillel is incredibly diverse, complex and decentralized,” Uram said. “Because we’re not a membership organization and a club, we really don’t consider people part of Hillel or not part of it — we see Hillel as a resource for the whole University.”
