Sunkist, Falafel Ring in UC Victory

Students snacked on Sunkist and falafel while toasting members of the Sundquist-Sarafa campaign on Friday, following the announcement that current Undergraduate Council Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 and running mate Randall S. Sarafa ‘09 would lead the council next year.

“We’re really excited,” said Sundquist, standing before friends and campaign staff members. “It’s going to be awesome.”

Election Commission Chair Michael L. Taylor ’08 delivered the news to Sundquist’s Mather suite and brought along members of the Harvard Glee Club, who immersed the winners in song while others doused them with champagne.

Sarafa said the first thing he would do as vice president-elect was to keep the promise he made to the Alaska Klub and swim in the Polar Bear Plunge this past Saturday morning.

Sundquist said he would “hopefully start going back to class soon,” adding that he and Sarafa would soon sit down to go over plans for their term, which begins next semester.

Fellow candidate Frances I. Martel ‘09 and her campaign staff—not including her chronically absent running mate Leo P. Zimmermann ’09—were also present to congratulate their opponents. The two tickets had previously agreed to combine their celebrations.

Martel expressed candid disappointment that her ticket captured less than 8 percent of the electorate, taking a third place finish. “It was awful—172 votes,” she said. However, Martel said later on that she “had fun” and was grateful for the experience.

“Although there are still things I disagree about in [Sundquist’s campaign], I love the people,” she said.

While the two camps were congenial, the competitive air was still alive as Martel’s supporters held up signs reading, “Hanging Chads, Election Stolen” and “We Demand a Recount, Some Cabot Voters Barred From Booths,” after the Sundquist-Sarafa victory was announced.

“This election is not over,” Martel supporter Rachel A. Montana ’08 said. “We will squeeze this orange until the pips squeak.”

TAKING OFF SOME ‘VARNISH’

Over in the basement of Z-Square—the makeshift Willey-Snow campaign “headquarters”—the gathering was modest and the beers were few.

As nine o’clock approached, the conversation gradually shifted from the basketball game on the bar’s televisions—“The Celts are just so dominant this year,” Nicholas B. Snow ’09 continually marveled—to predictions of the upcoming results.

“There was this image of Sundquist as a UC god,” Roy T. Willey IV ’09 said as he mused over the possibility that he might unseat the UC insider. “We definitely took some of the varnish off him as this perfect candidate.”

As more and more supporters filtered in, one of them brought the news that Sundquist had won the election. And a good five minutes before the official call from the election commission, Willey had confirmed the results by checking The Crimson’s Web site on a friend’s iPhone.

But Willey did not lose sight of the upside.

“Think of it this way: we got 700 votes in three days of campaigning,” Willey said, including the roughly 200 second place votes the Willey-Snow ticket had garnered. “Sundquist only got 1,400 in three years.”

—Staff writer Nathan C. Strauss can be reached at strauss@fas.harvard.edu.