Senate presidential election results in Zickel elected, Gonzales resigns as VP

feature 1, Issue 12, Jon-Paul Cook, Linda Park, News - By Jon-Paul Cook on Thursday, December 2, 2010 - 04:50

It may not have been the 2000 national election between Gore and Bush but the results of the ASWC Senate election were very close. Junior Tyler Zickel was chosen as president, junior Ben See as vice president and sophomore Poonam Narewatt as Secretary. Campus Relations position remains unfilled.

According to current ASWC President senior Gabriel Papa, the race for president was nearly tied between juniors Adrian Gonzales and Zickel.

It was close enough that the ASWC Senate felt that it warranted a runoff election, which would pit Zickel and Gonzales against each other head-to-head.

The Senate subsequently received an e-mail from Gonzales in which he rescinded his candidacy on Monday, Nov. 22. A week later, Gonzales resigned from his seat as current Vice President. When contacted for an interview, he declined to comment.

According to Papa, there was significantly less participation in the voting process this year than last. Only 295 students voted.

The problem is that the Senate was unable to continue an internet-based ballot due to overly specific wording in the constitution, which stated that ballots must be collected in a box.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited to have been elected ASWC president,” ASWC President-Elect Tyler Zickel said. “In the next year, I hope to foster a renewed sense of school spirit among students, as there is a lot to be spirited about at Whittier College.” 

Zickel wishes to streamline the environmental efforts of Whittier College with the help of the many environmental groups on campus and to improve the ASWC Senate’s accessibility in order to “better represent real student concerns.”

“I want students to know what the Senate is and what we do,” Vice President-Elect Ben See said. “I want to bring awareness to the table and increase enthusiasm. I think that if students knew what we did, they would care more and it would increase [voter] turnout.”

“I’m really excited to work with Tyler and Ben, as well as the Senate,” Poonam Narewatt said. “I would like to make some improvements to the position of secretary but continue all the practices that are currently done well.”