Grad elections held next week

While the undergraduate student body elections took place this week, graduate elections will be held this upcoming Monday through Wednesday. Unlike the undergraduate student body president and vice president elections, the graduate elections have two candidates running technically unopposed with Brock Wester for president and Karl Yerger for vice president. However, the elections will still be held as if multiple candidates were running for the positions and write-in candidates are possible.

"There will be emails going out next Monday to all graduate students with the candidates platforms that were published in last week's paper," said Adam Brancato, a chemical and biological engineering graduate student and graduate internal affairs committee chair.

The fact that the elections are going to be unopposed is not a new experience for the Graduate Student Senate (GSS), the last contested presidency was three years ago, while the last contested vice presidency was two years ago.

"The reason that the graduate races are usually unopposed is that there is a different experience than undergraduates. It is more like a job. To be graduate president, it will normally extend the time that the person is here by at least a year," Brancato said.

Despite the time constraint, another reason that there are normally unopposed races is because there are few graduates interested in Student Government.

"The races also tend to be unopposed because those who are interesting in the position are usually already in the senate. Everyone knows Brock [Wester] and Karl [Yerger] and felt they would be fit for the job. There was one other potential vice-presidential candidate in Bihn Dam, who would have run had no one else stepped up to take the job," Brancato said.

The role of the graduate advisors also comes into play when a person decides whether or not to run for president.

"We need permission from our advisors to take on a position like this," said Ryan Bechtel, graduate student body executive vice president.

Despite the fact that the races are usually unopposed, any graduate student is free to run in the elections. "Anyone is welcome to run. Emails are sent out to everyone. However, the pool of people who would be interested in the position tend to have already gravitated towards the senate. Also, the number of people who are willing to stay another year to be president is small," Brancato said.

Because of this, a trend has developed as to the type of person who becomes the president.

"People who run tend to be Ph.D. candidates in their third or fourth year. That trend goes for Mitch Keller, Kasi David and Pelham Norville. However, that is a trend and not a rule. The only rules are that a person has to have been a graduate for more than one semester and be in good standing. The reason the trend holds true is a time issue," Brancato said.

Time constraints tend to ease for a Ph.D. candidate in their third or fourth year within the system. "In the third or fourth year, the main bulk of the work is over with, so you have more time to commit to being president," said Mitch Keller, current GSS president.

"We would love to have hotly contested elections but it is unlikely that more than one person will decide they have the time during the same year," Brancato said.

With Wester running unopposed, it is almost certain that he will win the position barring any massive amounts of write-in votes. However, there will be several issues facing Wester as soon as he enters office.

"The number one issue is related to graduate student stipends. The second major issue is graduate health insurance. The third is payroll deductions. This looks like it will be in place for the fall, but there will be implementation issues that Brock [Wester] will have to deal with. A fourth issue is ticketing for athletics," Keller said.

Despite these issues, Keller feels that Wester is up for the challenge. "I think Brock will do a wonderful job. The office is being left in a good position. He has a great demeanor and I look forward to seeing great things," Keller said.