Class of 2022 elects five class officers

The Undergraduate Student Government announced the election results for the Class of 2022 Class Council in an email on Friday, Oct. 12. Of 23 candidates, the five students with the most votes were elected.

Anika Khakoo ’22, Gabe Lebeau ’22, Mansi Totwani ’22, Santi Guiran ’22, and Sarah Lee ’22 will comprise the first-year Class Council.

According to the email, 619 first-years voted in the election. Guiran received the most votes with 203 votes, followed by Lebeau with 200, Totwani with 183, Lee with 166, and Khakoo with 135.

Guiran was very unsure as to what the results would be, thinking of the election as a toss-up between all 23 candidates. Upon seeing not only his victory, but the fact that he had the most total votes, Guiran was overcome with emotion and “started bawling crying.”

“The idea of so many of my classmates having my back, believing in me, and supporting me really meant a lot to me,” he said. Guiran expects this emotion to drive him to do the best he can for his classmates going forward.

In a tight race, one candidate Grace Wang ’22 was only two votes shy of Khakoo and received 133 votes. Five other candidates received more than 110 votes.

“I think that it [the closeness of the race] serves to show that there were so many qualified candidates," Khakoo said.

Though a USG election is on a much smaller scale, Khakoo felt that the tight race proved the importance of voting in general.

“A lot of people experience the tragedy of the commons — thinking that their vote won’t matter — but everything matters,” Khakoo said.

As members of the Class Council, the newly elected officers will create class-specific programs, plan social events to foster class spirit, design and distribute class gear, foster relationships with parent and grandparent alumni classes, and establish class identity and unity.

Voting was open Oct. 8–10.