RAZA Elects New Leaders

Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA last night elected Marcella Prieto '02 as president and Sal E. Espinosa '02 as vice-president for the next year.

They will be succeeding Monica M. Ramirez '01 and Tawny Ochoa '01, this year's president and vice-president. Prieto and Espinosa both served this year on the RAZA board.

RAZA is a student group for Chicano and Latino culture.

Board members were pleased with the 24-member voter turnout, a mix of both upperclass students and first-years, at Lowell Lecture Hall.

Prieto faced opposition from Roel Saldvar '01 for the presidency. Espinosa ran against Isauro Villarreal '02 for the vice-presidency. After the winners were announced, the candidates embraced and congratulated one another.

During a pizza dinner, the candidates for the 11 board positions talked about their visions of RAZA for the year 2000. Community involvement both within and outside of the Harvard community was the main theme of the speeches.

"I'd like this organization to become stronger within itself but also have a greater presence among the [local] Latino community and Harvard student groups as well," Prieto said.

Making RAZA more accessible to freshman, through big brother/big sister programs was also a predominant theme.

"We're a support group for Chicanos coming to Harvard from various backgrounds," Espinosa said.

In addition to president and vice-president, nine other board positions were up for vote, all of which were filled by "energetic" RAZA members, according to Ramirez.

RAZA chose Patricia R. Ruvalcaba '03 as secretary; Brian A. Sandoval '03 as publisher; Reyna P. Hernandez '03 as treasurer; Roberto Gradilla '03 as community liaison; David Montes '03 as social chair; Michael J. Lopez '03 as finance commissioner; Ruben Marielarena '02 as Latino Political Committee chair; Ali A. Valenzuela '02 as East Coast Chicano Student Forum representative; and Alejandro R. Rodriguez '03 as Student Advisory Committee representative.