News Briefs

Turnout Low for Senior Elections, Demessie Elected Class Trustee

Fewer than 130 students turned out to vote in the recent senior class officer elections. The winner, Menna-Heiwot Demessie, currently a Student Senator, was disappointed by the turnout.

“The low turnout is unfortunate and although I’m not sure how close the election process is this year in comparison to last year, I’m thankful for those who did make the effort to vote.”
Associate Dean of Students Bill Stackman, who counted the votes, said that the number of votes was comparable to those of recent years.
“If it was lower, it wasn’t lower by that much. People don’t turn out in masses for this.” Stackman also said that it is difficult to find people to run. Only one person ran for the position of sophomore and junior class president, and therefore no elections were held for those classes. He proposed that moving the elections back a couple weeks might allay the turnout problem.

Junior Amy Levin-Epstein, who was co-elected to the position of Vice-President with Aqila “Kiki” Mayle, cited the fact that many juniors are abroad this term and thus unable to vote. Mayle suggested that Oberlin doesn’t place much emphasis on politics, thus the scant number of votes.

Demessie won with 42 votes and Mayle and Levin-Epstein each had 40.
“I am sure that the election was fair and that the close vote count reflects three qualified candidates,” Levin-Epstein said. Demessie concurred, and directed similar praise at her colleagues.
Both vice-presidents were pleased with the tie, because it meant an additional person helping out. “The tie for vice president is great,” Levin-Epstein said. “We’ll have three people working together which should be more productive than two.”
Although a highly visible campaign was not present, Demessie said she did try to get people to vote. “As much as posters and e-mails help in the campaigning process, I found talking to people quite effective,” she said.
All three candidates said they were excited to get started, but none stated immediate plans. “As far as plans for our class, Amy, Kiki and I are in the process of requesting funds for activities for our class. We also are meeting together on our own to discuss ideas for next year,” Demessie said.
The senior class is given $8,000, which is typically spent on senior week. 

-John Byrne