By Grace Hitzeman

The Student Life Committee has revised the Student Council elections policy, moving nominations and elections earlier in the semester and requiring a group meeting for all potential candidates. This measure passed the Student Council last week and unanimously passed in Campus Senate on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Vice President for Student Life Whitty Montgomery ’12 said, “In the past, [the Student Life Committee] began the election process by taking nominations right after Spring Break, [but] with this new process, we … take nominations before Spring Break.”

Montgomery explained that the training process will be facilitated by this change. “It’s been difficult for us in the past to properly train the new people coming into Student Council, especially in the positions of President and Student Life and even Housing and Dining Committee, unless they’ve had previous experience with all the large hearings we [Student Council] have to deal with,” Montgomery said.

Christina Mastrangelo, director of Student Activities and Greek Life, said the new policy will ensure students are more informed about elections.

Last year “there were issues [with] the management of the nominations,” she said. “Unfortunately, [the VP for Student Life] intentionally left a name off the ballot.” The pre-election meeting will allow the VP for Student Life to feel “more confident that he or she has relayed that information versus an email that … most people may not read,” Mastrangelo said.

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