UC Ticket Drops Out, Another Joins Race

The lineup of candidates vying for president and vice president of the Undergraduate Council underwent slight changes this week, as a new ticket gained approval to join the race and another team dropped out.

The new ticket—consisting of UC outsiders Ryan P. Halprin ’12 for the top spot and Aneliese K. Palmer ’12 for vice president—entered the race late Wednesday night. The following morning, former presidential candidate Samuel Melton ’13 and his running mate Maxwell P. Campion ’13 announced that they would drop out.

Melton said he was unaware before he withdrew that a fourth ticket had been approved.

After participating in a special appeals process, Halprin and Palmer received approval for late entry from the Undergraduate Council Election Commission on Wednesday night.

As a penalty for declaring their ticket after the official deadline, the duo has been granted less time for campaigning. While the other candidates can start their campaigns on Monday, Halprin and Palmer must wait until Tuesday.

“I think it is great that the Election Commission is being flexible in letting all students with interest enter the race,” said current UC President Senan Ebrahim ’12.

Melton said that he and Campion had originally decided to enter the race after attending the UC’s meeting last month with University President Drew G. Faust, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith, a question-and-answer session which was open to the entire student body.

“We were frustrated by the fact that the administrators didn’t seem to be taking the UC seriously and were shutting down their ideas about social space and other issues that concerned students,” Melton said. “After the meeting we thought that, as outsiders, we could shake up the UC a bit, bring new ideas, and help the average student get their voice heard.”

But shortly after entering the race, the pair decided that in fact they believe the other tickets—Danny P. Bicknell ’13 with Pratyusha Yalamanchi ’13, and Crystal D. Trejo ’13 with David H.A. LeBoeuf ’13—will be more effective since they all currently hold leadership positions on the UC.

Announcing his intent to withdraw, Melton said, “Our decision this morning to drop out was based on fact that we believe Danny and Crystal have the same ideas and hopes that we do, but having been on the UC they have more experience with the system so they may be more efficient in getting things done.”

He added, “Both of them have been very open about the things they want to accomplish. Ultimately we seemed to be hearing recurring themes and our platforms were shaping up to be quite similar.”

Vice presidential candidate LeBoeuf is also an inactive Crimson news writer.

–Staff writer Rachael E. Apfel can be reached at rachaelapfel@college.harvard.edu