Herding the Masses

Student Council Elections of the New Millennium

Either the common quip that relegates our generation to political apathy is accurate, or YU students are fully content with their undergraduate experience thus far. These two conclusions seem the only way to fathom the nature of this year's upcoming student elections, which promise to sweep our campus with an unusually quiet and civilized hand. One might almost forget the plethora of political mudslinging that has characterized previous years' elections. A quick glance at the list of candidates running for various student leader positions reveals that many races have only a single candidate running for some previously coveted positions. Except for the contest for YCSC President, the races that have more than one candidate running for a single position seem rather ordinary and may prove to draw only a small voter turnout.

In light of the bland line-up for many of this year's races, the ticket for the Executive Board stands out as especially unique. Astonishingly, two commonly sought after positions on this board remain uncontested. Dov Brandstatter, this year's junior class president, seems likely to occupy next year's Vice Presidential seat. Chaim Schneider, who has been active in planning numerous YCSC events and is noted for his significant contributions to this year's Commentator, is running unopposed for Student Council Secretary. Also of note are the two other executive board positions up for grabs. The Treasurer spot is sought by both Naftali Olivestone, who was instrumental in organizing the YU Chanukah concert, the annual highlight of the campus social calendar. Rising to counter the Olivestone platform is Aryeh Goldberg, a prominent force in planning sophomore class and school wide events.

All these moderately volatile races pale in comparison to the race for YCSC President, which promises to be a most interesting rally. The three candidates vying for the position all hail from vastly different political backgrounds. Many feel that this results in a difficulty in easily pinpointing any one candidate as a frontrunner for the Presidential office. Daniel Drabkin, this year's yearbook editor and runner-up in last year's Presidential election, is gunning for the top spot. Opposing him is Jonathan Mell, who actively assisted the student council and distinguished himself this year at various Student Life meetings, where he proposed many meaningful changes to University policy. The third candidate is Simcha Fuld, a former president of MTA's student council, who by many accounts is arguably the best dressed man on campus, and hopes to secure the Student Council presidency.

Turning to some other significant races, the Senior Class elections pit Alex Teichman against Moish Schmerler for that class' presidency. Josh Swedarsky is going up against Akiva Marcus for Senior Class VP, while Joshua Hersh is running unopposed for the joint Secretary/Treasurer position.

In stark contrast to the Senior Class ballot, the Junior Class race promises some interesting line-ups featuring a relatively diverse group of candidates, with some competition for seats. Five different Juniors are vying for their class presidency. They are Shlomo Herman, Randy Modell, Menachem Feit, Tuvi Meyer, and Adam Cohen. The tightly bunched field has spawned various interesting platforms that have kept Juniors captivated and eagerly awaiting the next wave of flyers to hit the bulletin boards. For VP, the candidates are Monty Stechler, Josh Slomonicki, and Eric Distenfeld, while Mikey Butler and Barry Buckman are duking it out for secretary/treasurer.

In other races, the SOY board elections are unique this year, as the majority of the candidates running will not be undergraduates next year, but rather Semikha students. The elder statesman of the presidential contest is Ben Kelsen, a graduate of both YC and Cardozo, who is currently enrolled in Semikha. Opposing him are Chaim Loike, SOY's current Vice-President of Business Affairs, Shlomo Troodler, YCSC's current secretary, and Aton Holzer, the president of the senior class and the current editor-in-chief of Hamevaser.

In contrast to years past, the elections for the SBMP and IBC boards are all but over before they began, as every candidate is running unopposed. In the SBMP race, it is Scott Nadel declaring for president, Mark Tenenbaum for VP and Alain Zeytouneh for secretary/treasurer, while the anticlimactic IBC slate is Eric Schubert for president, Avi Lavian as vice-president, and Steven Mellner as secretary/treasurer.

The JSS board elections offer a bit more action. For the position of president, Fred Kreizman and Salim Baghdadi are both running intense campaigns. Jonathan Finkelstein and and Daniel Greenspan are both vying for the vice-president's seat, while the contest for the secretary/treasurer is between Dimitriy Yuster and Eric Norman.