Student Council VP Run Off for Kim, Lemmerman

With Student Council (StuCo) elections just around the corner, candidates for three Executive Board positions are putting together their strategies for Tuesday, May 7, when the student body will cast the final vote for next year’s president, vice president and secretary. The polls will be open from 1 to 7 pm in the Agora.

Upper Joohwan Kim and lower Emily Lemmerman won the preliminary election for vice president in a field of five original candidates. Runoffs for president and secretary were unnecessary because only two candidates ran for those positions.

Candidates for 2013-2014 StuCo President, uppers Alice Ju and TJ Hodges, and candidates for secretary, lowers Benj Cohen and Margaret Zhu, are seeking to replace the outgoing 2012-2013 StuCo Executive Board—President Max Freedman ‘13, Vice President Joon Yang ‘13 and Secretary Alice Ju ‘14.

"Most people only know about the weekly meetings, but there’s so much that the Executive Board does behind the scenes," Ju said. "As the current secretary, I spend hours each week working with advisors, committee heads, the Student Activities Office, faculty, deans, etc. on everything from planning activities to presenting large-scale policy changes to the department heads."

Hodges said how he has witnessed many times the impact that StuCo has had on the student body and StuCo’s potential to make Exeter what the students want it to be. "Our Student Council has had its ups and downs during my time here, and this year has been a very focused and productive one. I don’t want to lose that," he said.

Kim is running because he is confident that he can deliver to the student body. "I decided to run for Student Council vice president for several reasons, the most basic being that I sincerely believe that I have the ideas to continue the evolution of our school and the experience necessary to execute these plans," he said. "In addition to that, as an Upper Representative, I have grown to love organization and setting up events for my friends and peers."

Lemmerman expressed her interest in making DC reform one of her major projects as StuCo Vice President. "I really want to work on DC reform, which is, in my opinion, realistic, and I think this will significantly impact students," Lemmerman, an incoming member of DC, said. "DC reform would include creating something between being required to withdraw and probation for the Disciplinary Committee. A lot of other schools have that, and I think this will allow many more students to stay at Exeter, and I think that’s really important."

Cohen said that his experience planning successful events would be an asset to the Executive Board. "I have led a lot of events for Student Activities this year: laser tag, speed dating and late night bowling, just to name a few. We’ve done a good job this year, and I want to continue to plan some big events next year," Cohen said.

Cohen also expressed his interest in making headway in reforming the Visitations policy. "I want to take some small steps towards making the V’s policy a little more liberal," he said. "That doesn’t mean getting rid of the V’s policy altogether—it means just taking some small strides to making it easier to get visitations, possibly a bit more private."

Zhu spoke of her desire to uphold what she believes are the fundamental aspects of Student Council. "I believe Student Council has three responsibilities: to implement various student activities, to bring awareness to our community and to support the diversity of our school," she said.

Candidates plan their campaign strategies to attain maximum publicity. "I am currently campaigning through two routes: posters and social media. I am launching my posters out in three waves, two of which have already happened," Kim said. "It’s so that my posters, which are my main means of gaining attention, don’t become a common background that people ignore. The new posters will come up close to the date of the election so that people remember them."

Lower Mason Polk expressed his desire that the Student Council President be someone who can represent all students effectively. "Student Council executives obviously represent the student body in what they say, and I think that a representative should be judged on how well he or she interacts with members of the administration and faculty," Polk said. "So while I look for a friendly representative, I also look for someone who is honest, who understands the needs of the students and who has a lot of personable qualities."

Students will also be taking the candidates’ ideas for campus events into consideration. "I am looking for a candidate that supports the idea of more student activity all throughout the year because I find that I don’t even have the weekends to look forward to when there is nothing to do," prep Sang Park said.

"I am also looking for a more progressive leader who wants to create change by working with the staff and faculty," Park said.