In the first round of Student Union elections, Student Union Secretary Sneha Walia '15 was elected as the next Union president.

Walia, who won 62 percent of the vote, wrote in an email to the Justice that she is "unbelievably excited."

Walia wrote that she plans to focus on increasing transparency about "major Union initiatives" and work with student groups on campus on diversity related initiatives.

The other presidential candidates, Terrell Gilkey '15 and Class of 2015 Senator Anna Bessendorf, received 12 and 19 percent of the votes, respectively.

In a close race, Sofia Muhlmann '16, was elected Student Union vice president, winning over Senator-at-Large Naomi DePina '16, with 42 percent of the votes going to Muhlmann and 40 percent to DePina.

"[O]ne of the first things that I believe we as the Student Union need to think about is setting goals at the beginning of our terms, making reasonable deadlines to accomplish these goals, keeping all undergraduates in the know, and informing our constituency about how it is we are collectively working to represent and support our undergraduate community," wrote Muhlmann in an email to the Justice.

Muhlmann also wrote that she is "looking forward" to tackling issues such as improving residence halls and meal plans, "increasing awareness" arround sexual assault and its advocacy as well as pushing for increased transparency regarding the University's administrative and financial affairs.

Current Union Vice President Charlotte Franco '15 was elected secretary with 56 percent of the votes.

Franco wrote in an email to the Justice that her top priorities will be "the club system as a whole," as well as the structure of the Union. She wrote that she hopes to collaborate with Student Activities to examine and look for ways to improve the support and resources provided for clubs.

Assistant Treasurer Andrew Miller '16, the sole candidate for the office of the treasurer, was elected with 70 percent of the vote.

Miller could not be reached for comment by press time.

Class of 2016 Senator and Director of Communications Jonathan Jacob, Judy Nam '16, Elad Ohayon '17 and Ari Ben-Elazar '17 were elected to the Allocations Board.

Jacob wrote in an email to the Justice that he aims to work with the Senate to de-charter "defunct or inactive clubs" and look for ways to provide funding for performance clubs, which currently do not receive money from the Union.

Nam wrote in an email to the Justice that she will work to increase transparency between the A-Board and club leaders.
"Increasing transparency will help students be assured that their money is being put to use efficiently to benefit not just select members of the campus, but the Brandeis community as a whole," she added.

Nam's other goals include helping clubs on campus find ways to maximize funding for their events, building communication between the A-Board and clubs leaders and "smoothing out some procedural kinks in the financial process."

In an email to the Justice, Ben-Elazar wrote that he will work with clubs to focus on "smarter spending.

"I see that there is potential to reform the allocations process and promote more sustainable spending so we can make the absolute best of the [Student Activities Fee]," he wrote.

Xinyu Annie Li '17 was elected the racial minority representative to the Allocations Board. Li, the only candidate running for the seat, received 63 percent of the votes.

Li could not be reached for comment by press time.

Grady Ward '16, who was elected the junior representative to the Board of Trustees with 49 percent of the votes, wrote in an email to the Justice that his top priority will be getting a "better picture" of the University's finances.

"I will be setting up meetings with administrators to better understand how the allocation process works and formulating plans as to how to insert student input into that process," he wrote.

"At the same time, I am going to be contacting and organizing community leaders to begin strategizing about ways that we can bring our concerns to the administration," he added.

Class of 2016 Senator Kathy Nguyen was elected the junior representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee with 41 percent of the votes.

Nguyen could not be reached for comment by press time.

The two seats for representative to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund remain unfilled, as no candidates ran for those positions.