Author: Cara Lovell
The mid-year first-year class elected Edward King '05.5 to the Student Government Association (SGA) last Sunday, while the tight race in the junior class election resulted in a tie between Simon Isaacs '03 and Amine Bouchentouf '03. SGA Director of Membership Sara Schuman '02.5 plans to hold another election between the two juniors through Wednesday and Thursday. She said that the low voter turnout in the junior class during the first election will make every vote significant in the run-off.
King plans to bring to the SGA a fresh, clear mind open to new ideas and free of conflicting commitments. He is a self-acknowledged "people-person" and his reputation as "the one who knows everyone's name" spread quickly through the February first-year class. He has experience in student government from high school and spent his first semester in Colorado, often preparing for the mountain and road biking races in which he plans to participate at Middlebury.
Isaacs served on the SGA as junior class senator last semester and took action drawing up an academic lectures bill. A three-sport athlete himself, Isaacs saw that students participating in activities like sports could not attend any guest lectures because they always took place during practices at 4:30 p.m.
Ideally, the new bill would split these lectures between lunch times, the traditional 4:30 p.m. time slot and evening times. However, Isaacs is most concerned with the administration's notorious reputation for only listening to the SGA when it is convenient. He cited recent examples of blatant miscommunication on controversial issues like the 'lockdown' and senior housing. While Isaacs said he is "not asking for the College to be run by a democracy," he maintained that the SGA should not be "a puppet."
He attributed the lack of votes in the recent junior class election to this justifiable attitude that the SGA doesn't have any sway in the real issues anyway. Isaacs' main goal is thus to "bring some real integrity back" to Middlebury's student government.
Bouchentouf was inspired by recent issues like the dorm 'lockdown' and the parking crunch to get involved in student government again after enjoying participation in such activities in high school. While he plans to take action on these important issues, Bouchentouf's main priority is to improve the noticeable lack of communication between students and the SGA and also between the SGA and the administration. Thus he plans to get his class involved through consistent e-mails and weekly meetings.
Whatever the outcome of the tie-breaker, the students, SGA and administration can look forward to the addition of new perspectives eager to take action and improve the levels of communication in Middlebury student government.
King Voted Feb First-Year Senator, Juniors Face Run-Off Election
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