Chou enters race for 2010 presidency

Chou, who previously announced plans to run for class vice president, said he decided to join the presidential race because he felt that the other two candidates’ platforms were not addressing two important issues: improving communication with students and attracting more students to class events.

“I really want to hear what the class wants us to do and what kind of events they want us to focus on, and I wasn’t getting that from the other candidates’ platform statements and [facebook.com] groups,” Chou said.

Though Chou initially said he would support Jin’s candidacy, he explained that he and Jin ultimately had different ideas about how the class government should communicate with students and address class unity.

“I think my platform focuses more on what the class wants as opposed to what we personally think the class wants — and that’s what’s different,” Chou explained. “It’s always a difficult position to run against two friends, but in the end I decided that my vision for the class as far as promoting class unity and improving communication was something I really wanted to see for our senior year.”

Jin said that, though she believed they had a similar vision in the beginning, she welcomes Chou’s entry into the race.

Jin added that she thinks the communication between students and class officers could be improved but noted that there are only five officers trying to accommodate an entire class.

“The [communication] problem will always be there, but if we have diverse events we can solve some of those problems,” she said. “When we have more diverse events, we have the potential to involve different members of the class.”

Though Panda noted that he hadn’t had much time to “digest” Chou’s announcement, he said he wanted to emphasize that the Class of 2010 officers continue to respect each other and work together even as they prepare to face off in the three-way election next week.

“Disagreements should not be taken as a sign of dysfunction,” Panda said, noting that the class government has planned three upcoming class events while running against each other.

“Portrayal of hostility is more of a campaign line than anything else,” he added.

Senior elections manager Sophie Jin ’11 explained that, under the election rules, candidates are allowed to switch candidacies. The rule states, “Switching candidacies is permitted until the Friday before voting begins.”

The candidates differ in their positions on the USG referendum proposing the reallocation of some USG funds to the Pace Center and Annual Giving.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Chou, who said he opposes the referendum, explained that he thinks fall Lawnparties are especially important because it is the first time freshmen get to meet students from all four classes.

“I do think that steps are necessary to reduce waste in the USG budget,” Chou explained. “For example, at the Taco Bell study break, we had a lot of wasted food. There are a lot of day-to-day small excesses that we can trim instead of getting rid of this big event that affects more students.”

Panda, who opposed the initial referendum before it was changed to include the option of allocating funds to the Pace Center as well as Annual Giving, said he had not yet decided what he thought about the revised referendum.

“[It’s] difficult to digest in [so] little time,” he said. “The old referendum I stood opposed to. My philosophy towards contributions is that they should be voluntary, and I have to think a little bit about the new [referendum].”

Phoebe Jin said she opposed the original referendum because Annual Giving funds are unrestricted and the money, if reallocated, could have gone toward any University expenses.

“I do support the point to take funds from the Senate Pilot Program and giving that to [an] organization like Pace, because Pace actively involves student-led initiatives and I think that’s important,” she explained.