Last Wednesday, the Student Union held the second round of spring elections, filling 16 vacant spots in the Union.

The positions up for election included two Student Representatives to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund, a student representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, two senators-at-large, two Class of 2016 senators, two Class of 2017 senators, two Class of 2018 senators, a racial minority senator and five associate justices of the judiciary.

Ariel Garber ’17 and Stephanie Reifenberg ’16 were both elected as Student Representatives to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund. Mona (Zimo) Yang ’18 was elected as the Student Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

“I have been active in the club Students for Environmental Action but had also been searching for more ways to be involved in improving sustainability at Brandeis,” Garber wrote in an email to the Justice.

“As one of the new Student Representatives to the BSF, I am excited to work with the Sustainability Committee and the entire community on improving our campus,” wrote Garber.

“I am passionate about creating environmentally conscious changes in any area, from energy efficiency, to waste reduction and recycling, to sustainability education.

I look forward to hearing the ideas of my peers and making our campus more sustainable together.”

Reifenberg did not respond to request to comment by press time.

Lorenzo Finamore ’18 and Lucy Wen ’18 were elected as senators at large.

“One part of my general plan is oriented towards changing dining, making on-campus eating more veggie-friendly and lowering the prices at the C-store,” said Wen in an interview with the Justice.

“I’d also like to promote the transparency of the Board of Trustees and the administration.”

Finamore did not respond to request to comment by press time.

Ellen Parker '16 and Jesse Ruth '16 were elected as Class of 2016 senators.

Matt Smetana '17 and David Herbstritt '17 were elected as Class of 2017 senators.

Skye Golann '18 and Paul Sindberg '18 were elected as the Class of 2018 senators.

Smetana described his goals in an email to the Justice.

“Throughout the campaigning process, I used Facebook to post on the Brandeis Class of 2017 page. I hope to increase sustainable efforts on-campus.

I’ve worked with the Brandeis Sustainability Fund and other environmental action groups on campus,” wrote Smetana.

“Through that scope, I have found that people's knowledge on environmental issues is severely lacking, even at a progressive school like Brandeis.”

Smetana said that he hopes to continue to work closely with the Sustainability Committee and discussed the possibility of working with his co-senator Herbstritt “to convey student desires” to the adminstration.

Smetana remarked he also wished to potentially implement his and Herbstritt's own ideas, including trying to bridge the gap between the students and administration.

“We also plan to focus our efforts internally and take a look at the [Student Union] Constitution to see what needs to be revised,” Smetana wrote.

Parker, Ruth, Herbstritt, Golann and Sindberg did not respond to request for comment by press time.

Bethlehem Seifu ’16 was elected as racial minority senator. During her term, she would like to increase funding for Intercultural Center clubs and for events that highlight the historical contributions of minorities in the United States, she said in an interview with the Justice.

She listed National Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month as examples of events she would like to highlight during her time as senator.

Seifu added that she wants to work to improve communication among campus groups.

She mentioned a desire for better communication among the Union, the Intercultural Center and the University administration, as well as increase publicity for cultural events on campus.

As an international student from Ethiopia, she remarked, “I think it's important to put blackness on display in ways that people can relate to it.”

Five Associate Justices of Judiciary were elected—Lilah Cohen '17, Abraham Cheloff ’18, Stephanie Sjoblom ’17, Brian Dorfman ’16 and Hanyang Li ’17.

Cheloff said in an interview with the Justice that he wanted to make people know about the position.

“Running for election mostly involved informing constituents about the role of the judiciary and its greater role within the Union," he said. "As associate justices, we all work together to ensure that clubs remain fair and within the constitution of the Student Union.”

Cohen, Sjoblom, Dorfman and Li did not respond to request for comment by press time.

—Rachel Hughes contributed reporting.