Members of the Student Voice! slate claimed a sweeping
victory in last week’s campuswide election, capturing all A.S. executive
offices and six of eight senatorial seats.
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Related Links April 7, 2008 — "A.S. Ballot to Gauge Student Concerns" March 31, 2008 — "Bean at Tail End of Three-Peat" |
SV!’s showing was less striking in college council races,
but in A.S. Council contests, the slate’s dominance was so pronounced that one
of its candidates, David Henry Ritcherson, won one of the all-campus senator
spots even after dropping from the race several weeks ago.
SV!’s success comes as no surprise in light of this year’s
overwhelming number of unopposed races. However, when the results were
announced on April 11, SV! candidates reiterated their enthusiastic commitment
to council collaboration to increase student representation.
“I’m just looking forward to working with everyone,” SV!
candidate and A.S. President-elect Donna Bean said. She said she is relieved
that the campaign is over, and is excited to begin work beside her slate
companions.
Bean said her first two projects in office will be to
compose the A.S. budget and institute a task force to evaluate the council’s
constitution.
Newly elected Vice President of Finance and Resources Naasir
Lakhani said he is determined to use council funds more efficiently this year
to guarantee that student organizations receive adequate financial support.
“A couple decisions that we made this year with college
festivals and Triton Tide really depleted A.S. funds, so we’re going to try and
be smarter with our money and make sure that student org funding is a priority
for us, as well as saving the Grove and seeing if we can make it some profit,”
he said.
Lakhani added that the recent controversy surrounding RIMAC
Annex illustrates a need for clearer standards regarding the allocation of
student fee funds.
“I think that the main thing we have to do is make sure that
committee members are well-trained and know how to deal with the administration
and know what’s a fair use of student fees and what isn’t,” he said. “It’s not
fair for the administration to construct RIMAC Annex with money that was
designated for recreational purposes.”
SV! candidate Chris Westling, who claimed one of the eight
all-campus senator positions, is an active member of UCSD’s environmental
sustainability and social justice organization One Earth One Justice. He said
his principal objective in office will be to make fair trade coffee, tea and
sugar available at all campus restaurants.
“UCSD needs to be a leader in social justice,” he said,
adding that he has confidence in this year’s SV! coalition to achieve this
status for the university. “If we can have a movement that has some solidarity,
we really have the power to effect change.”
Commenting on Ritcherson’s unexpected victory, Bean said she
had sent correspondences to elections officials, and she also told the Guardian
that Ritcherson had bowed out of the race at the end of last month, when the
presidential candidate was scheduling interviews for her slate’s contenders.
Ritcherson attended Friday’s announcements to support his
SV! cohorts, and he said after his win that he was stunned but still undecided
about his next move. Ritcherson, who performs outreach work with both
the council and Black Student Union, won 1,153 votes, the
second-highest tally out of the all-campus senatorial candidates.
As a result, SV! candidate Devapratim Sarma — who was
assumed to be one of the eight unopposed senatorial candidates — did not receive
a spot.
Bean said she was surprised by the results of the all-campus
senator race. She did not mention any specific plans to address the confusion,
but she said a thorough investigation of the circumstances is in order.
“I think [the results] may have to be re-evaluated,” she
said.
A.S. Elections Manager Tanya Piyaratanaphipat said she never
received any communication about the dropout from SV! officials or Ritcherson
himself, and that she would have removed him from the ballot if she had been
informed of his decision.
“There was absolutely no incentive for me to not take him
off the ballot,” she said, explaining that she responded immediately to all
five declarations to withdraw that she received last week. She added that
Ritcherson reserves the option to resign from his position if he chooses, in
which case Bean, with the consent of the council, will be responsible to
appoint a replacement.
Sarma said that even if he lacks official affiliation with
SV! next year, his goals will not change.
“I’ll still be working on the same principles of student
representation and campus connectivity that I’ve always advocated,” he said. “I
hope to still use my experience and contacts from Student Voice! next year to
establish those principles.”
Last week’s ballot also included a survey that gauged
student input regarding a potential Activity Fee Referendum. Voters ranked the
Sun God Festival and student organizations as their top funding priorities, but
over half of responders said they do not support increasing student activity
fees to support these causes.
In the survey’s second component, regarding the residential
security officer program, 34 percent of responders said they feel safer knowing
that RSOs patrol student residences, and 70 percent said they would be willing
to complete a more detailed student satisfaction form.
Overall, voter turnout amounted to 9.1 percent of the
student population. Compared to last year’s 4,295 votes in the four-way A.S.
presidential race, only 1,956 students participated in this year’s entire
election.
Piyaratanaphipat said candidates’ campaigns generally drive
voter participation, but that with very few contested races this year, the
tremendous responsibility of encouraging turnout fell upon her eight-member
election committee.
“Hopefully this year was an anomaly,” she said.
