Nate Brown ’12 was elected Tuesday to serve as next year’s Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) President, earning the majority of the 735 votes cast in the election. Leslie Appleton ’12 was named the new Vice President of Finance, and theory friction practice ’12 won a run-off election for Vice President of Campus Life and Activities.
Brown won the election over candidates Jordan Cohen ’12, Jeff Levere ’12, and Samuel Pang ’12.
“I’m very excited,” Brown said. “I’m really thankful for the support I had from friends who were willing to get my name out there.”
Brown has never been elected to an ASPC position before, but he has sat on a number of ASPC committees including the Residence Hall Committee, the Food Committee, and the CCLA Budget Committee. He is also the junior class representative on the Wig Awards Committee and served on the first-year book selection committee last year.
As ASPC President, Brown will sit on the Student Affairs Committee (SAC), which recently proposed a change to the Student Handbook that would modify the definitions for private and public space in the residential halls, a change that could significantly impact policy enforcement at the college. Brown said he hopes to see this change through next year. However, he said his major goal would be to create better communication between students and the administration.
“I thought the administration’s relationship with students was at a low point,” Brown said. “Students don’t feel like their voices are being heard. I ran with the goal of creating more communication, more transparency with students and the administration.”
Appleton was named Vice President of Finance in Tuesday’s election. She is currently studying abroad in Prague, but shewas active in student government earlier this year, serving as co-chair of CCLA's Annual Events Committee and as a member of the CCLA Executive Counsel and the CCLA Budget Committee last semester.
In an e-mail to The Student Life, Appleton cited concerns about tuition funds appropriated to the Budget Committee not being entirely spent over the last few years.
“Senate has hundreds of thousands of dollars in reserve funds. I don't want to add to that,” Appleton said. “Every student pays student fees that are meant to be used for student clubs, activities, and events. One of my goals is to make sure that every student's fees get returned to him or her in some form. Some programs that may help with this initiative are subsidizing more off-campus activities.”
William Gamber ’13 was named Commissioner of Academic Affairs. He said he hopes to review issues of grade inflation and writing instruction at Pomona.
“I would like to see the college review how it teaches writing,” Gamber said. “I don’t think it’s a big focus, and I think it should be, since we are a liberal arts college. I also think people have been left out of the dialogue on grade inflation this year and I want to see more of a discussion and student input on the issue.”
Will Mullaney ’12 was named Commissioner of Communications, while Sarah Appelbaum ’13 will serve as Commissioner of Community Relations. Both ran uncontested. Hsuanwei Fan ’12 will be Commissioner of Environmental Affairs and Alice Chan ’14 will be the Commissioner of Off-Campus Relations. Ari Filip ’12 will serve a second year as Commissioner of Club and Sports.
Carrie Henderson '12 won a two-person race for Senior Class President while Drew Di Palma ’13, who ran uncontested, will be the Junior Class President.
“I’ve had a phenomenal time working on Senate as Junior Class President and [I] wanted to continue working on Senate next year,” Henderson said. “I am very dedicated to our class. I want to work toward more class unity next year. It’s been hard this year because half of the class has been abroad at different times. I want to push for more class events next year.”
A run-off election for Vice President of Campus Life and Activities ended today with the election of theory friction practice '12. ASPC implemented a new voting system last fall in which voters rank their top choices instead of choosing a single candidate. According to current ASPC President Stephanie Almeida ’11, this system should eliminate run-offs and spur a greater voter turnout since voting dramatically decreases in run-off elections. However, votes for the position of Vice President of Campus Life and Activities were so evenly divided that a run-off election between practice and Erin Phelps '12 was necessary, Almeida said.
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