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The Student Union Executive and Finance Boards for the 2008- 2009 school year were elected this week, as the student body cast their votes during the primaries on Tuesday, and the final round on Sunday.

Jason Gray ’10 will serve as Student Union President for next school year, joined by Vice President Mike Kerns ’09, Secretary Tia Chatterjee ’09, and Treasurer Maxwell Wallach ’09. The newly elected Finance Board members include Yuki Hasegawa ’09, Emily Moignard ’09, Julian Olidort ’11, and Jahfree Lemuel Bendele Duncan ’09.

Sunday’s primary was very close. Gray received 49.86 % of votes on Sunday, while his opponent Justin Kang ’09 received 47.19%. For Vice President, Kerns, who got 47.66% of votes, beat out Jordan Rothman ’09, who received 42.05%.

Election commissioners reprimanded Nelson Rutrick ‘09, a candidate for Vice President and current Union Secretary, and noted on the Union website that he had “violated one or more election rules.” According to Rutrick’s election website, the commission had done this in response to a ‘libelous’ e-mail he had sent to club leaders asking for their endorsement.

In the e-mail, Rutrick had stated that Student Union Senate meetings were often split into “conservative and liberal students,” and that his opponents were “the partisans on either side of the aisle.” The problem, according to Rutrick, was that Rothman, who is not a senator, could not have been partisan on either side.

On his website, Rutrick responded to this incident in the “Real Q & A section.” He writes, “I completely disagree, and think that sadly- my ‘elections violation’ is extremely politically motivated. Yes, that’s right. Politically motivated garbage in our Student Union government- who would have thought!”

Chief of Elections Zach Pyle ’09 declined to comment on this issue.

In an interview with The Hoot, Chatterjee shared her goals and expectations for the upcoming school year. “One thing that would really like to stay on top of is the Club Resource Center. There is a lot of room for improvement there, and I want to be sure that it can always be used to the best of its resources.”

She continued, “Since I have a more transitional period and since my position in the Office of the Treasurer has so well prepared me for many of the tasks of Secretary, I hope to take over a lot of the responsibilities quickly and fix some of the immediate problems in the Student Union Office.” Chatterjee has spent the last semester as the Executive Assistant in the Office of the Treasurer under current Treasurer Choon Woo Ha ’08.

Wallach, too, has served as Finance Board Chair and as Deputy Treasurer under Ha. Wallach expressed that he was “very excited to work with the new E-Board, as I think all elected members are extremely dedicated and capable, and I have no doubt we will be able to work together successfully.”

Discussing his plans for next year, he commented, “I hope to continue to improve the convenience and speed of club finances, and continue to encourage more well attended, larger, and better planned club events on campus. I am confident that next year will be extremely successful!”

Moignard, who served with Wallach this past year on F-board, shared her expectations for the next year. “Choon Woo and the 2007-2008 F-board accomplished a hell of a lot during the past term but there is still so much to be done. Next year’s Finance Board will be dealing with a lot of these issues, picking up where the previous board left off.”

Moignard further expressed her excitement for working with the new members of F-board, who she says bring the different perspectives of the Office of the Treasurer and the Senate. “I am especially thrilled to be working with Julian [Olidort] because he is brand-freaking-new…I hope that Julian will bring a Union-free perspective to the group.”

“I’m excited to be working alongside them,” said Olidort, “because while I know very little about each of them personally, I do know that they have all been active in the community over the past few years and I definitely have a lot to learn from them.”

Several Junior and Senior Representatives were also elected on Sunday. Jonathan Kane ’10 was elected Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees, Sarah Bernes ’10 was elected Junior Representative to the Alumni Association, Michelle Barras ’10 was elected Junior Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and Julia Simon- Mishel ’09 was elected Senior Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.