Candidates for positions on the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Undergraduate Finance Board described some of their accomplishments and plans for next year at a debate Tuesday night.
Though five of nine top positions are uncontested, all but one candidate participated in the debates, moderated by Ethan Ris '05.
The race for UCS president lost one of its members, as Nate Goralnik '06, a former Herald columnist, dropped out of the race because he "heard it would be suicide" and that he would "have to break up with (his) girlfriend."
Goralnik continued to participate in the debate even after announcing his withdrawal from the contest. He described the reasons why he had originally wanted to run and the problems he saw with the current system. "I think (UCS members') ideas are too small," he said.
Brian Bidadi '06 and Ben Creo '07, the two remaining presidential candidates, gave their ideas for change.
Bidadi said the council is "too individualistic" and spoke of the need for senior leadership. He proposed a system in which groups of three to five students on the council would work together on larger initiatives instead of each member trying to accomplish "pet projects." Bidadi also talked about extending some of the positive aspects of the first-year experience to upperclassmen.
Creo, who is completing his first year on UCS, spoke about the need for improvement in academic advising through the addition of full-time academic advisors. He also called for more centralized information, because "Morning Mail is a joke," as well as a focus on student services including health and psychological services.
The two candidates for UFB chair, Swathi Bojedla '07 and Richard Soto '06, both advocated for changes to the board in addition to what has already occurred this year.
Soto called for "opening the process up," saying that "if people see how we make decisions, it will lead to better presentations and better events." He said he would advocate for this change in order to fulfill his goal to "create an organization that is open, accountable, credible, and educates the public."
Bojedla did not advocate opening up the now private portions of deliberations, but did call for "full disclosure of all of our (financial records) through UCS or the Web site," which she said would help groups and make the board more accountable. She also said UFB should begin spending part of its contingency fund reserved for emergencies. "This is the time when it should be used," Bojedla said.
In the debate for UCS Admission and Student Services Committee chair, candidates Anya Rasulova '08 and Zac Townsend '08, a Herald copy editor, focused on their accomplishments this year.
Rasulova's involvement in UCS includes her work with Talent Quest, which entails outreach to students from generally underrepresented areas. Rasulova is from Uzbekistan and said she is the only student currently at Brown from Central Asia.
Rasulova said she would like to continue working on Talent Quest next year as well as attaining free storage for all students, increasing financial aid and working with and encouraging donations from alums.
Townsend spoke of his move through the ranks of UCS from associate member to board member to member of the executive board. He said he won the promotions because members of the council have faith in his abilities. He said he will try to address "issues that every student faces here at Brown," including the "increasing financial burdens being put on (students) by the administration" and the "lack of economic diversity" in the student body.
Two candidates have entered the race for Campus Life Committee chair: Deanna Chaukos '08 and Halley Wuertz '08.
Wuertz, who said she has missed only one UCS general body or committee meeting over the course of the year, has worked to improve trash collection on weekends, helped to promote wireless Internet awareness in a current ad campaign and is working on starting an off-campus meal plan, she said.
Chakos wants "all projects to be student-inspired," which she thinks is possible with an advertising campaign she calls "What's your beef?" She said she hopes to continue to encourage school spirit with programs such as Wellness Week, which she helped organize this year.
Nicholas Monu '06, who is running unopposed for Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee chair, did not come to the debate.
Signatures for candidates were due to be certified at midnight. By late Tuesday, no class year had five candidates running for its five open representative positions. Positions that are not filled in the spring election will be filled during a fall election.
Many members currently on the council are not running for re-election. Two such members, Sara Damiano '08 and Michael Morgenstern '08, are not running because they want to try new things. "I'm not really sure about my plans for next year," Damiano said. "I'm not sure what I want to be involved in."
Morgenstern said that UCS requires a lot of time and devotion. "I'd like to focus on other things," he said. "It's not about wanting or not wanting to be on UCS.
