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Volume CXXXII, Number 22 |
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BSG elections see record turnout
ADAM BABER
ORIENT STAFF
Seven hundred eighty-eight students voted in this week's elections of Bowdoin Student Government officers, electing Jason Hafler '04 to another term as president of the student body. A majority of those who voted also expressed a desire to see Hawthorne-Longfellow Library open until 2:00 a.m.
According to Vice-President for Student Government Affairs Ed MacKenzie '03, approximately 1200 students were eligible to vote in the election. The 788 participants represent a 20 percent increase over the 653 who voted in 2002.
The election covered the BSG president, five vice-presidential offices, and treasurer, the former chair of the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC).
The closest race was for the office of Vice-President for Student Organizations. With 228 of a total 670 votes cast, Hosheus "O.C." Isaac '06 edged out his closest competitor by a mere seven votes.
In another close race, Riquelmy Sosa '05 defeated her three challengers for Vice-President for Academic Affairs with a plurality of 34 votes.
Other winners included Elliot Wright '04, Vice-President for Facilities, and Graham Jones '04, Vice-President for Student Affairs. Wright was very pleased with the turnout for the web elections, noting that "to get more people voting is always the best case for Bowdoin and for the candidates running."
He looks forward to addressing such issues as bike rack organization, a centralized lost-and-found for students, and improving energy efficiency in an effort reduce tuition costs.
For the offices of President, Treasurer, and Vice-President for Student Government Affairs, candidates ran unopposed.
Jason Hafler '04 was re-elected as BSG President and Dan Schuberth '06 was elected Vice-President for Student Government Affairs.
Tejus Ajmera '04 will serve another year as Treasurer. He said he was "happy with the campaigning that went on," noting "a lot of enthusiasm."
Asked why some positions were not challenged, Ajmera said that some positions did not spark enough of an interest to challenge incumbents.
This BSG officers election was the first for Eli Maitland '06. Maitland said that the current elections system was "pretty good for the most part, but could be better if campaigns started earlier."
He said that it was "kind of hard for voters to gather all the information with all the different candidates running in such a short amount of time."
The online voting also included two questions about extending the hours of H&L Library.
Seventy-five percent of those voting indicated a desire to see the library open until 2:00 a.m., with 67 percent saying that they would take advantage of such a change in hours.
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