Students elected General Assembly and Class of 2007 Council representatives Sunday and Monday, with freshmen dominating positions in residence halls in the General Assembly.
Mark Stern and Guy Seemann were elected as Class of 2007 president and vice president, respectively. Alicia Griffin, who ran unopposed, was elected secretary and Sterling Johnson comptroller.
"The elections went very well," said Polson Kanneth, chair of the Student Confederation's Board of Elections. "I give a lot of credit to my board."
Kanneth said that students had no problem with the paper ballots, a switch from last year when computers offered online registration and voting. The board used paper ballots because they are more accountable and provided a hard copy of who won the elections, he said.
Stern, who won with 69 percent of the vote, was excited by his election.
"I was telling freshmen that I want unity and to unify the class and make their presence known on campus," Stern said. "The biggest thing is to get the Class of 2007 involved in different events."
Stern said that he was completely shocked when over 50 percent of the freshmen class voted for him but he also felt very encouraged.
"It's a great relief that the elections are over," Stern said. "It was fun and a good chance to meet with other freshmen."
Class of 2004 President E.J. Stern is Mark's older sister, and helped her brother when he came to her. This is also the first time since high school that they will both be working in leadership roles.
"I'm so proud of him and I know he'll be an outstanding president," E.J. Stern said. "I know that he'll do worlds of change at American University."
Guy Seemann elected vice president of the Class of 2007, who is already planning to propose to the G.A. a freshman class poll to see what matters to them.
"I really wanted to be involved and to make a difference, despite how clich? that sounds," Seemann said. "Some say the freshman class is lame. I want to increase our involvement in politics, togetherness as a class and involvement in the college education."
"This year's elections were exciting. A bunch of people were running for president and vice president which added to the excitement," Class of 2007 vice president candidate Sebastian Janelli said. "When it came down to it, it's the amount of time you put in. I think for the future, it's something that I would want to do even more."
Three representatives were chosen for the Class of 2007 in the General Assembly. Jennifer Antista, one of the three, said that she relied on her friends to help her with campaigning and passing out flyers.
"I'm flattered more than anything else [since winning], especially since I am one of the few females to be elected," Antista said. "I also knew a lot of people that were running that were just as qualified as I was."
Freshmen were elected to most of the positions in the residence halls. The exceptions were former GA Parliamentarian, senior Jake Baerkirker, elected Off-Campus representative, and sophomore Iwona Rusek, elected for Hughes Hall representative.
Kanneth believes that most students in the first year turn to student government as way to get involved at school.
"There's always a huge freshman turnout at the beginning of the year because they are so energetic and ready to get involved," Polson said. " I'm gun-hoed about that."
Freshmen Mark Anderson and Andrew Danto, who were elected for Anderson Hall GA, wanted to get involved with the student government. In fact, Danto already has a concern to address.
"One of my concerns that I want to address is about the vending machines, because they don't accept Eagle Buck$ and the vending machine that sells toiletries only delivers mouthwash," Danto said.
Freshmen David Levine and Bryan Riley ran together as a ticket for Letts Hall.
"In our case, it was an official pairing," Levine said. "We combined our funds and doubled the campaigning."
Levine went on to say that when one was at class, the other could campaign for the other as well as himself.
Other elected freshmen elected included Sean Johnson for McDowell Hall and James Sanborn for Leonard Hall.
Most of the elected representatives agreed that they were excited about working in the GA as well as being an active member in the government and voicing the concerns of their constituents.
Currently, there is no candidate for Tenley campus, which will later be appointed, and Centennial Hall's unopposed elected representative is pending a final decision.
