7th Slate Enters UC Race-Again

One more ticket will run against the crop of candidates gunning to lead the Undergraduate Council (UC), after a presidential ticket withdrew via e-mail but a UC official said the virtual missive was illegitimate.

Amadi P. Anene ’08 decided to renege on his petition to run with Kyle A. De Beausset ’08-’09 because of what he said were “family complexities”—but the day after the deadline, he decided he wanted back in, and sent another e-mail to Election Commission Chairman Joshua G. Allen ’09.

The incident represents the first time in recent memory that a presidential ticket has withdrawn and reentered.

Allen said Anene filed his candidacy by the Sunday deadline but expressed reservations via e-mail that night.

Allen sent an e-mail early Monday morning with only six tickets listed—but said yesterday that Anene’s withdrawal was never considered official.

“Resignations require hand-written declarations from campaigns because e-mails are way too easily faked, so his withdrawal wasn’t acceptable,” Allen said.

The Anene-De Beausset tickets joins six others, more than doubling the number of last year’s race.

Tom D. Hadfield ’08 and S. Adam Goldenberg ’08, Ryan A. Petersen ’08 and Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, Ali A. Zaidi ’08 and Edward Y. Lee ’08, Tim R. Hwang ’08 and Alexander S. Wong ’08, Brian S. Gillis ’07-’08 and Morgan C. Wimberley ’08, and Omar A. Musa ’08 and Daniel Ross-Rieder ’08 are also seeking the top two positions.

“I thought that external circumstances were going to prevent me from me being able to do it,” Anene said last night. “I just really thought I wasn’t going to be here.”

He declined to elaborate further on his reasoning.

Anene has been on the UC since his freshman year when he was secretary of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC).

Most recently, Anene served as SAC vice chair for College Life where he was involved in initiatives including the changes in Hilles, the campaign for a women’s center, and Course Costs Assistance Program (C-CAP)—a book stipend program for low-income students.

Anene is currently a member-at-large for SAC, so he can focus more on “legislation.”

“It was more so a real hunger to bring about change in a unique way that motivated me to run,” Anene said last night of his candidacy.

De Beausset, who is a Crimson editorial editor, has never served as a council representative.

Anene called their partnership an “insider-outsider” ticket. They join Gillis-Wimberly as another pair combining UC experience with a newcomer’s perspective.

Debates are slated to start Nov. 29, Allen said.

—Lulu Zhou contributed to the reporting of this story. —Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.