With concerns growing that the face of the USG does not reflect the diversity of the University population, the student government stepped up efforts this election season to recruit candidates from international, minority and women's groups.
Despite the increased efforts, the number of candidates from "underrepresented" groups running for U-Council and class office this spring is not significantly different from the number who ran in last year's election, according to USG vice president and elections chair Spencer Merriweather '00.
Of the 38 candidates in last spring's campaign, 15 were either minorities or international students and 21 were women, Merriweather said. By his count, 16 of this spring's 39 candidates are either minorities or international students, and 18 are women.
However, the candidates now running are more closely allied with international, minority and women's organizations on campus than in the past, thereby offering a chance to have those groups' interests better represented in student government, Merriweather said.
"The way we tried to do that," he said, "was to attract candidates from the particular organizations instead of just (having) a campus-wide call for representation by underrepresented constituencies."
"We're not just trying to have faces there but really trying to have interests represented," Merriweather added.
The USG attempted to boost involvement through emails to members of minority organizations, posters and conversations with leaders of the campus minority community, USG president David Ascher '99 said.
This administration's relations with ethnic organizations on campus have not always been smooth, though. Early in Ascher's tenure, the USG came under fire from many of those organizations after the Projects Board budget was cut in a move that USG officials later conceded was an accident.
However, leaders of minority organizations yesterday applauded the USG's recent attempt to recruit more candidates from underrepresented groups.
"This is one of the first times that someone has made a concerted effort in the past four years," said Vanessa Tyson '98, president of the Multi-Ethnic Student Alliance.
"For what it's worth, even though the USG is predominantly white, it has never come across as exclusive or anti-minority," added Tyson, who is also a columnist for the 'Prince.'
In working with the USG on the recruitment drive, Janelle Wright '00, chair of the Third World Center, said she had dual goals. "What I'd like to see is more representation in general and more representation from organizations in particular," she said.
Wright said one of the first discussions she had after assuming the TWC chair was to contact Ascher about broadening minority involvement in the USG.
Merriweather said he hoped the publicity effort – in which he contacted more than 30 campus minority organizations – would trigger a higher voting turnout by underrepresented groups and involvement with the USG after the election.
Noting that it is difficult to draw generalizations about the entire minority population at the University, Tyson said she believes many minorities favor joining ethnic organizations that are "closer to home" than the USG.
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