IOP Elects First Board Since Restructuring

The Institute of Politics (IOP) restructuring efforts came to a close on Monday as a group of nearly 50 students selected the Student Advisory Council (SAC) members in the group’s first elections since the release of its new governing structure.

The top three positions were determined in uncontested elections. Running as a ticket, Robert J. McCarthy ’02 and Eugene Krupitsky ’02 were elected President and Vice President of SAC. Fernando Francisco Flores will serve as treasurer for the group.

Three rising sophomores will serve as committee heads for the fall semester.

“The energy of this [the first-year] class is impressive. We hope to build on this energy with next year’s freshmen,” McCarthy said.

Before Senator David H. Pryor disbanded SAC for restructuring last November, the group had previously selected members through an application process.

In December IOP members elected a slate of students who served as members of this semester’s temporary student governing body.

Under the new constitution, all but three members will be elected. All students who have attended more than one half of any IOP committee’s meetings are eligible to vote for president, vice president and treasurer as well as the nine at-large members.

Students announced their candidacy last week by submitting their first choice and drop down positions to IOP staffers who ran the election process.

“This opens up the process to more people. It means anyone who wants to be part of SAC can run,” Krupitsky said.

The elections included time allotted between prepared speeches and a question and answer period.

Three members of SAC will still be selected through an application process.

“The unelectable clause recognizes that there are some people who want to be involved who may not be good at giving speeches who deserve to be on SAC,” McCarthy said. “Not everyone wants to run for office and we don’t want to be limited to that definition of politics.”

The majority of positions were also selected in uncontested elections. McCarthy said the uncontested elections showed students are happy about the leadership.

The newly elected SAC members said they plan to work on involving as many students as possible in their projects.

SAC still remains in a transition period, according to McCarthy, as the task force organized to reform the group left many decisions in the hands of SAC members.

Other members of next year’s SAC include IOP Civics Co-Chair: Caroline E. Adler ‘04, Community Action: Heather A. Crossner ‘03, Fellows: Patrick C. Toomey ‘03, Forum: Joshua I. Weiner ‘03, Harvard Political Review Editor: Jason T. Sauer ‘02, Harvard Political Union: Previn Warren ‘04, Internships: Adam J. Wienner ‘04, Projects: Heather A. Woodruff ‘03, Study Groups: Randall J. Winston ‘04.

At-large members include Erin B. Ashwell ‘02, Shankar Duraiswamy ‘02, M. Elizabeth Kytle ‘02, Sonia H. Kastner ‘03, Sandhya Ramadas ‘03, E. Clarke Tucker ‘03, Peter P, Buttigieg ‘04, Theresa M. House ‘04, Elizabeth A. Sykes ‘04.