When freshman elections were held for the Class of 2006 last year, many of those involved in student government were astounded at the number of students who were campaigning for positions in the Senate and class councils, but preliminary figures show that the Class of 2007 is shattering those numbers. As of Monday night’s Senate meeting, 21 freshmen had submitted candidacy forms, including seven for class president and seven for senator. Last year, only three freshmen vied for the presidency and six for a position on the Senate.
“I would definitely call this an above average year,” said Matt Ezovski, chairman of the Rules and Elections Committee. “The freshmen this year seem very excited about elections.”
Grand Marshal Mike Borzumate was also surprised by the numbers. “I’m very excited about the diversity of the potential candidates,” he said. “I was delighted with last year’s class and this class can only be better.”
Ezovski attributes the increased number of candidates to a variety of factors, including the advertising done by RNE at Student Orientation and Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond. The Committee held candidate orientation sessions during NRB and handbooks were given out during the SO sessions. But the larger class size, Ezovski said, has to be given the most credit. “This is mostly a result of the larger class size and a gradual change in the type of person who comes to RPI,” he said.
Campaigning by the candidates has not yet reached the levels usually seen, with posters not yet visible on the academic side of campus. Ezovski does not feel this is a problem, though. “Campaigning is likely to become a little more obvious as the candidates turn in nomination forms,” he guessed. Nomination signatures are due Friday at 5 pm.
The elections are planned for Tuesday and Friday of next week. Tuesday will be reserved for primary elections, while Friday will be for the finals. Primary elections are held when the number of candidates is more than twice the number of open positions and the Committee feels it is necessary. Polls will be open in both the Commons Dining hall from 9 am to 7 pm, and the DCC Great Hall from 9 am to 5 pm.
As always, students who vote in elections will be provided with the mug from 2003 GM Week, but will have to vote in both the primary and final elections to earn it.
This year’s elections are being held earlier than usual in an attempt to comply with the Union constitution, which mandates that the elections be held within two weeks of the class’ arrival on campus. Because of the amount of work that is involved both in campaigning and in organizing the event, the elections have been held as much as seven weeks after the freshmen arrived. This year’s election is one week earlier than last year’s.
Candidacy forms can be obtained from the bulletin board in the Student Government Suite on the third floor of the Union, or from the RNE website at http://elections.union.rpi.edu.
