Late into the evening of April 4 the Community Senate election drew to a close and junior Yahya Alazrak was named Senate president, edging closest rival and fellow junior Elijah Dacosta by 20 votes.

Alazrak earned 204 votes to Dacosta’s 184. Third-place candidate and sophomore Cate Schurz netted 51 votes.

“It was a really close race,” Alazrak said. “The excitement of winning is quickly being replaced with responsibility. The work is already beginning.”

” I feel great about the results of the election,” said Dacosta. “Am I disappointed that I didn’t win? Of course, but I think that BYKE will do a great job.”

“Elijah and I were buddies going into this,'” Alazrak said. “Going against each other was like a friendly badminton match. It was like Tom and Jerry. We were going to back each other up since one of us was going to lose.”

Sophomore Brian Jones ran unopposed and weathered the write-in candidates to take the vice presidency, and Erich Pohanka became secretary in the other unopposed election. Sophomore Karen Turner earned the treasurer position.

Despite the switch to individual tickets, the entire “BYKE” coalition made a clean sweep of each open position.

“I think that the race went very smoothly,” said Dacosta. “While I know that coalitions were encouraged, I wish that more of the candidates would have campaigned individually to make it clearer to the student body their goals and what they planned on doing once elected..”

“The purpose of running individually was to give students more ability to select their executives, rather than be stuck with a candidate you would not normally choose simply because they were on a ticket with candidates that you supported,” Schurz said. “If this concept was fully carried out, without encouraged and informal candidate coalitions, then I believe it would have been a great opportunity for the voters.”

According to Alazrak, one of his immediate goals for next year include working closely with campus clubs, and continuing efforts on the social honor code.

“I am really going to be pushing to network with other organizations,” Alazrak said. “I am going to try to encourage organizations to work with each other, and we might see some changes to the Inter-Club Council next year.”

Alazrak also noted that he would like to talk with as many students as possible in the last weeks of the semester.

” I am going to be holding as many office hours as I can,” Alazrak said. “I want to hear what the big issues are and I want to investigate those issues. Then, I want to start acting on the ones that are within our reach.”

For Alazrak, his motto for next year says it all.

“Focus on the things that are winnable, focus on the things that are already started and, hopefully, that will send a message that Senate is a place where things get done.”

CCE ELECTIONS

CCE SGA elections took place over April 4-6. The three-day voting period was intended to help accommodate CCE students’ potentially busy schedules.

A candidate ran unopposed in every race, with the exception of the race for CCE SGA president. The two candidates were Bernadette Howell and Jean Kelley.

Howell ran on a platform of integrating CCE students with the campus community more.

“I will build on the platform that is working in the SGA at this time that keeps the CCE students informed and active within the adult student population through campus events, socials, and workshops that have enhanced the adult student experience,” says a piece of Howell’s campaign material.

Kelley ran on a similar platform.

“I want the SGA to grow, and become a better organization,” Kelley said. “I’d like for it to work with Community Senate a little bit, because right now we don’t do anything with them at all although we essentially do the same thing for different people.”

Kelley also used the slogan “Vote for Experience” to promote her campaign, referring to her past involvement with the CCE SGA.

“I have been the activities director for the past year,” Kelley said. “I’ve planned every event this year. I loved doing it and I want to get more involved.”

Howell also used her experience to promote her campaign, pointing to her experience in student government and volunteer work in her campaign material.

CCE SGA election results were announced after The Guilfordian went to print. For results, go to www.guilfordian.com.