Freshman class elections attract slew of candidates, nine vie for presidency

Having only met three weeks ago, the freshman class set itself to electing its officers last night, as the candidates for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and social chair gave speeches delineating their various positions.

This year's race for freshman class president comprised nine eager politicians. While many had ideas in common, each had factors that distinguished him from his competition.

Derrick Raphael's speech had an altruistic tone. While he expressed an earnest desire to be president, he also sincerely offered to participate in the administration of any of the other candidates should he lose.

Devan Darby expressed an interest in organizing University students to do charity work to give back to their community.

Along with Darby, candidate Christopher Lloyd viewed his responsibilities to the Honor Committee as very important.

For James Williams, it was important to strike a balance between focusing on particular problems, while looking to larger goals. He noted that as the nation's top university, Princeton should have more flexible meal plans, electronic course registration and two-ply toilet paper.

"We are all superheroes," said Karis Gong. Her goals were lofty, saying later, "we [the class of '06] will make the world a better place." She stressed that she would be the voice, not the mind of the class, and that she would always keep her ear out for ideas.

Logistics were important to Donnelly McDowell. He discussed the importance of setting realistic goals as well as maintaining strong personal communication with his classmates.

Frances Schendle laced her message with quotations from popular movies and television shows. In conclusion, she said among candidates for president she was, "as good as it gets."

"I hated student government," said David Braun, "absolutely hated it." Aiming to make student government more useful than he has seen it in the past, Braun expressed his desire to deal with the little annoyances we deal with daily.

Rick Raymond stressed the importance of getting every student involved with government. He ended by quoting Vanilla Ice: "if there's a problem, yo, I'll solve it." This expressed the enthusiastic tone of many of the evening's speeches.

All four candidates for vice president described this year as an important first step in their Princeton careers. Frank Langston showed his enthusiasm by removing his shirt at the podium to reveal an undershirt that read, "go '06."

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Both candidates for treasurer have extensive experience in bookkeeping. Misha Renda stressed the importance of communication while Haydar Colakoglu focused on conservative fiscal practices.

Three students vie for class secretary: Amanda Chi, Emily Arensman and Andrew Song.

The race for Social Chair drew eight candidates. All stressed the importance of making friends and getting to know fellow classmates during the freshman year. Daniel Pugliese suggested that happiness during the freshman year could be derived from "monkey butlers," though no other candidates shared his point of view. Six of the eight seeking this position are female.

Elections will occur online, beginning at 12:01 a.m. early Friday morning and lasting though the weekend.