Foundation Holds Elections

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations held elections for its Student Advisory Committee (SAC) last Thursday, after the initial vote on September 30 was annulled due to the lack of quorum.

The election winners, co-chairs Michael K. Tan '01 and Rosalinda Rosalez '01 and secretary Andrew Amo '01, received the majority vote from the 25 committee members present, five members more than the two-thirds required and twelve more than were present at the initial vote on September 30.

Tan and Rosalez won both elections, but Amo, who won Thursday's official election, had originally lost out to Nina S. Sawyer '01.

"I love the work of the foundation, so I'm going to continue being a part of it, but I'm not settled in my mind about the results of the election," Sawyer said. "[The electoral process was] probably fair for everybody else and good for the foundation, but I don't feel it was fair to me."

Unaware of the two-thirds vote requirement, the foundation held the election on September 30 with only 13 out of 33 member groups present. After the annulment of the initial election, another meeting was called after a few days, but it too failed to meet quorum requirements.

The election was rescheduled again for last Thursday, and notice was sent out Wednesday night, according to Sawyer. Sawyer had an interview at the time, and could only show up to the meeting briefly and announce that she was still running.

"I was unable to give a speech or answer questions," she said. Noting Sawyer's absence, the SAC voted on whether to hold elections for the position of secretary and decided to go ahead with the process.

Sawyer said she believed her inability to be present and the fact that members were tired of meeting affected the results.

Amo had no comment on the results of the second election.

"It was fairly done," Rosalez said. "We took a vote and the group decided to go ahead with the elections without Nina. It's always the case that a candidate's absence affects the vote. Voters wonder about the candidate's priorities, though Nina had no choice about making it."

"We've had to hold three meetings about [the elections], and there was a lot of exasperation," she said. "I don't think anyone's questioning whether Andrew won fairly. These are the final results. Nothing's changing."

Rosalez also expressed relief after herinitial misgivings about the group's electionprocess. "[The difficulty of meeting quorum] kindof made me wonder about the integrity andcommitment people had for the committee, and itmade me happy to see people finally realize theimportance of the election."

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural andRace Relations acts as a focus of race relationsand cultural affairs on campus, hosting events,bringing speakers and distributing funding torelated campus groups

Rosalez also expressed relief after herinitial misgivings about the group's electionprocess. "[The difficulty of meeting quorum] kindof made me wonder about the integrity andcommitment people had for the committee, and itmade me happy to see people finally realize theimportance of the election."

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural andRace Relations acts as a focus of race relationsand cultural affairs on campus, hosting events,bringing speakers and distributing funding torelated campus groups