After a week of contentious debates and intense campaigning, juniors Grant Gittlin and Tom Haine are set to compete in a 24-hour runoff election starting today at noon in the race for Class of 2008 president, according to unofficial results released by the USG last night. Presidencies for the Classes of 2009 and 2010 were retained by the incumbents.
The USG did not release the number of votes each Class of 2008 presidential candidate received, but about 40 percent of the undergraduate student body — 1,934 students — voted in a referendum on proposed changes to the University's academic calendar.
The most popular proposal was Calendar One, which was the first choice for 38.8 percent of the voters. The calendar would move the start of the school year to the Thursday after Labor Day and would place final exams for the fall term before a lengthened, five-week winter break.
Calendar Two came in second with 30.7 percent of the vote. This proposal would start the school year the Monday after Labor Day, add a full-week break for Thanksgiving and retain final exams after winter break.
The current schedule, called Calendar Three in the referendum, garnered only 20 percent of the vote, while Calendar Four, which proposed a 13-week semester and a shorter reading period, was least popular with 10.4 percent of the vote.
Ten U-Councilors were also selected Tuesday from the 20 candidates who ran for the yearlong term. The Council will only include two returning members, Sarah Langberg '09 and Matt Field '08.
Langberg and Field will be joined by Merritt Hummer '10, Sarah Hogarty '10, Brian No '10, Liz Rosen '10, Rebecca Silver '09, Davionshante Chism '09, Maria Salciccioli '09 and Rohan Joshi '08. Hogarty and No are both staff writers for The Daily Princetonian.
All election results need to be certified by the University registrar before they can be formally announced. USG academics chair and elections manager Sarah Breslow '08 said that there were no serious problems during the week-long campaign.
"There were some minor campaign violations that occur every elections cycle, such as more than one poster on a board, but nothing serious enough to merit disqualification from the race," she said in an email. Breslow is a photography editor for The Daily Princetonian.
Class government races
Gittlin and Haine were the top two finishers in a three-way race for next year's senior class president, with Aaron Spolin '08 coming in third.
Haine described his mood as "cautiously optimistic" as he goes head-to-head against Gittlin, the three-term incumbent. "Over 50 percent of juniors just voted for a new class president," Haine said in an email. "That's a big deal, and not a fluke trend ... [p]eople are generally under the impression that we can definitely do better in the area of class government."
But Gittlin was quick to defend his record and show his enthusiasm for what would be his last year in office. "I love the Class of 2008," he said in an email. "I love what we've accomplished together over the last three years, and I hope that we continue working together for what is sure to be an amazing senior year."
Spolin said that despite the outcome of the race, he was still happy that he chose to run. "It was a really hard-fought race, and I thought the race was definitely good in general," he said. "The race really brought a lot of important issues before the rising senior class to vote."
In most other contested class elections, incumbents won reelection. Class of 2009 president Grant Bermann defeated challenger Jay Thornton, Class of 2010 president Connor Diemand-Yauman fended off challenges from Bobby E. Addis and Kelley Tran and Class of 2008 social chair Jay Serpe beat Nicole Velasco to win reelection.
Aditya Panda was the only candidate to oust an incumbent, defeating Class of 2010 vice president Fatu Conteh.
"I think the voters realized that the incumbency, while it carries weight, doesn't necessarily mean more experience," Panda said. "I had the support of my fellow board officers, and I think that counted for something."
Panda, who ran on a ticket with Diemand-Yauman, said the two hope to make class government about more than just free food and class gear.
"Our basic philosophy has always been one of class unity through community service events," he said. "We believe that any class government can do the usual study breaks. We believe class government should be held to a higher standard. We want to bring the entire class together and be able to contribute to others who are in greater need than we are."
In the open race to succeed Panda as class treasurer, Rashad Badr '10 defeated Rui Zhang '10.
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