April 9, 2008

New WCSA Officers Chosen

Elections for the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) brought out almost half the student body to vote on March 26. These elections have made history, as this is the highest participation rate in recent memory.

As campaigning began, candidates knocked on doors, distributed flyers around campus, and discussed their platforms at tables set up in the atrium of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.

Candidate teams for president and vice-president were Stan Osei-Bonsu ’09 and Kristina Fitch ’10, Rory McHale ’09 and Ben Goodrum ’09, Amanda Zechiel ’09 and Anthony Rosato ’09. There was one candidate for secretary and four in the running for treasurer.

Monday, March 24, there was a debate planned for the president and vice president ticket pairs to answer whatever questions were presented to them by current students. The mediator of the debate was the past president of WCSA, Tricia DiFranco ’09. On election day, Wednesday, March 26, cast their ballots at a table set up in the Ham-Wil atrium.

Although the winning candidates were notified immediately after the votes were tallied, the rest of the campus received the results by email the next day.

Stan Osei-Bonsu and Kristina Fitch had 270 votes. Amanda Zechiel and Anthony Rosato received 102 votes. Rory McHale and Ben Goodrum received 395 votes—51.5 percent of those who voted. A run-off election was required to choose the treasurer; Adam Koorn ’10 was the winner. Running uncontested, Yashika Shah ’11 was elected secretary.

Both McHale and Goodrum are residents of The Tree House, a Small Living Unit on campus. The night of the election, Goodrum received a phone call from DiFranco, telling him of the team’s victory. It was his shouts that informed McHale of their win. McHale says it was a unique situation in that he was the last member of the house to find out he’d been elected. “I was so excited,” he says.

During the last meeting of the year, DiFranco will officially step out of her position as McHale steps in. McHale is most looking forward to implementing the things he and Goodrum dedicated their platform to:

1. Environmental reforms
2. Handicap accessibility on campus
3. Representing the student body

“I hope people will see WCSA more next year, become more enthusiastic about what is to come, and become  involved,” says McHale.

– Shade Fakunle