Approximately 950 students participated in the 2005-2006 Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) officer elections and referenda, which closed at 8:00 p.m. last night. Three of the seven officer elections were uncontested.
Sophomore Deray Mckesson defeated Derrick Wong '07 by a majority in this year's presidential election. "It was a good race," said Mckesson, currently the Vice President for BSG Affairs. McKesson cited his "Compact for Sound Government" as an integral component of his campaign.
"I think that I had a clear plan. I have a vision for where I think the student government should be," he said.
Looking ahead, Mckesson believes that BSG's main challenge will be ensuring "structural integrity and stability."
For Mckesson, "student government will not be strong for anyone until it's strong for itself."
First-year William Donahoe overcame junior opponent Ted Lyons in the race for Vice President for Facilities. In the short run, Donahoe plans to concentrate his energies on ensuring the future of extended hours for the Watson Fitness Center.
"The gym needs to be done now," he said. "We will need to allocate extra funds for gym hours this year. We can ask for more from the school."
Over the summer, he intends to develop a web site for students to share suggestions with BSG, as well as an online polling system to gather more data about student concerns.
"It is so simple. People seemed to like the idea," said Donahoe.
Sophomore Carolyn Chu defeated Katerina Papacosma '08 for VP for Student Affairs. "I'm pretty excited," she said. "I didn't know which way it was going to go."
Looking to next year, Chu hopes to increase contact between students and administration, as well as increase the role of social houses.
"I hope to work closely with the Dean of Student Affairs to bring the students closer to the administration," she said. "Also, I'd like to see social houses more active."
The final contested position for this year's BSG elections was for Treasurer. Junior Joe Brazzi won the three-way election by a plurality.
"I would like to ensure that we fund programs that the student body really desires so that we don't waste the College's funds," Brazzi said.
The remaining offices were uncontested. Juniors Molly Dorkey and Shrinidi Mani will assume the positions of Vice President for Student Organizations and Vice President for Academic Affairs, respectively.
Dorkey considers the upcoming departure of Director of Smith Union and Student Activities Burgwell Howard her first major challenge.
"I think my first big challenge will be compensating for not having a pro like Burgie to guide me," she said. "But I'm confident that I'll figure it out."
First-year Dustin Brooks ran unopposed for the position of Vice President for BSG Affairs. He attributes the lack of competition to the nature of the position. "It deals with internal issues. It's based around constitutional reform and policy, so it's not the most attractive."
Reflecting on the night's election and his role in BSG, outgoing President Haliday Douglas '05 commented on both the potential of the incoming officers and the difficulties that they face.
"I do have a growing concern based on some of the general sentiments of the body of this year's student government about continuing to implement student programming on campus around community building," he said. "However, I also think the newly elected cabinet has a great potential to make those concerns a non-issue. I'm very pleased with the turnout and results."
Despite the challenges ahead, Mckesson shares Douglas's optimism.
"This team will have its own challenges," Mckesson said. "The learning curve will be steep, but I have faith that this team will be the strongest that BSG has seen."
The three referendum questions all were defeated. The proposals would have allowed for half-year representatives, instituted constitutional procedure reform, and constitutionalzed the use of by-laws.
Election administrators Douglas, Sue Kim '05, and Fred Fedynyshyn '05 refused to provide numerical results for the competitive elections to the Orient. Douglas cited BSG's "obligation on the part of BSG to take care that all candidates who had the courage and creativity to run for office, particularly the ones who lost, do not feel further stigmatized than their own compulsion would permit."