The start of the new semester brought a new round of Student Union elections. On Jan. 25, students voted for five Union Senate seats, four Allocations Board seats and one junior representative seat to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

Prior to the elections, the Student Union held a “Meet the Candidates” event on Jan. 24 over Zoom where prospective Student Union members could introduce themselves to voters. The Union also sent out brief biographies of each candidate in a Jan. 20 email to students.

Each candidate was given one minute to speak, and each one used their minute to state their desire to serve the Brandeis community in their respective positions.

Charles River Senator

Dariel Jimenez ’23 secured the position for Charles River Senator unopposed. Jimenez said in his candidate biography that he plans to use his position to advocate for and improve the conditions of students living in the Charles River Apartments.

Community Senator

Griffin Stotland ’23 secured the position of Community Senator unopposed. Stotland said that he plans on working on projects that will improve the quality of life of Brandeis students. 

Foster Mods Senator

Selah Bickel ’24 ran unopposed for the position of Foster Mods Senator. Bickel said that she plans to join the Sustainability and Social Justice and Diversity committees so that she can make Brandeis more environmentally friendly.

Midyear Class Senator

Scarlett Ren ’24 ran unopposed for the position of Midyear Class Senator. Once sworn in, Ren is looking forward to listening to diverse voices, holding discussions at public meetings and being beneficial to the lives of students.

Off-Campus Senator

Yiwei (Anacita) Shou ’24 ran unopposed for the position of Off-Campus Senator. Shou said she would like to focus on representing the voices of international students in order to make changes that make a positive impact.

Two-Semester Allocations Board Representative

Lexi Lazar ’24 was elected one of two open A-Board representatives. Lazar said she plans on using her position to help support as many clubs and organizations as possible.

Reese Farquhar ’22 secured the second A-Board representative position. Farquhar said he hopes to be able to fund the ideas of Brandeis students in the same way that he and his friends received funding to make the Branda app.

There had initially been some competition for the spots on A-Board, but Adam Cohen ’24, who was running for the same position as Lazar and Farquhar, dropped out of the race before election day.

Two-Semester Racial Minority Representative

Maxfield Chang ’22 ran unopposed for the Two-Semester Racial Minority Representative position. “I think I could provide some good experience and knowledge on the [club formation] process,” Chang said.

One-Semester Racial Minority Representative

Muhammad Mulyono ’22 ran unopposed for the One-Semester Racial Minority Representative position. Mulyono said that he wants to make sure all prospective clubs “have the know-how to make their vision come to life.”

One-Semester Allocations Board Representative

Benjamin Steinberg ’22 ran unopposed for the One-Semester Allocations Board Representative position. Steinberg wants to make sure that as many clubs receive funding as possible in order to be successful.

Junior Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Newly elected Priya Patel ’22 will join the three undergraduate student representatives already serving on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. According to the School of Arts and Sciences website, the role of the UCC is to review “the educational and curricular activities of departments … as well as academic rules and regulations, and [make] recommendations for action.”

Even though all the candidates ran unopposed, some student voters chose to abstain, write-in other names or give a vote of no confidence. However, these alternative votes were not enough to prevent any official candidate’s victory.