By Sophia Chakos-Leiby
Daily Bruin Contributor
Nearly half the positions on the Undergraduate Student
Association Council are uncontested for the May 8 and 9 elections
““ but this is unlikely to impact student voting, according to
Elections Board Chair Matt Kaczmarek.
The Dean of Students confirmed the eligibility of 21 USAC
candidates Wednesday afternoon.
Seven of these candidates are running under Students United for
Reform and Equality ““ presidential candidate David Dahle is a
founding member of this group, the platform of which focused on the
creation of a student senate in 2001.
Dahle will challenge Bryant Tan, the current academic affairs
commissioner.
SURE cannot gain the seven seats necessary to have a majority on
council, because two students under their platform are competing
for Facilities Commissioner.
Currently, there are four USAC members who ran under Student
Empowerment! in 2001 ““ a slate absent on this year’s
ballot ““ and two from the SURE slate.
Seven candidates have not announced their political ticket yet
““ although some of these students, such as Tan, ran on the
Student Empowerment slate last year.
The remaining seven candidates are on the independent
ticket.
In last Tuesday’s candidate orientation meeting, the board
announced its decision to shorten endorsement hearings from three
to two days.
This was due to fewer candidates and endorsement groups than
last year, according to Kaczmarek.
By condensing the endorsement period, he said the board hopes to
boost student interest.
This year’s number of candidates is down by three people
compared to USAC’s 2001 applicant pool.
Most of the decrease is in the number of students running for
president, Kaczmarek said.
In past years, there have usually been three or four
presidential candidates ““ but this year, there are only
two.
Kaczmarek said the number of candidates will probably not affect
elections because commissioner positions on council usually have
only one contestant.
He said a lot of commissions traditionally put forth respected
staff members ““ which could explain why five of the six
commissioner positions remain uncontested.