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Despite lackluster voter turnout, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) kicked off the year promising to be a more proactive student government. President Andrew Calica ’01 announced his plan to completely overhaul the existing WSA Constitution in an extensive yearlong initiative to allow the WSA to function more actively.

The week-long elections wrapped up Friday evening with a total of 578 votes counted, 271 of which came from frosh. The election was conducted online for the second time since the system was introduced last spring.

WSA Coordinator Matthew Fox ’03, who ran the election, said the WSA conducted an extensive publicity campaign to encourage people to vote, which included postering, sending mass campus emails and voice messages, and setting up a jack and computer at the Activities Fair on Thursday for students to vote.

Approximately 21 percent of the student body cast an online ballot. Just over 35 percent of the class voted, while only about 14 percent of upperclassmen voted.

"The frosh turnout was considerably higher than upperclassmen," Fox said. "I guess the upperclassmen just weren’t interested."

There were no visible posters around campus for the upperclassmen who ran. Calica said the frosh take a much more active role in the fall elections.

Sophomore Joey Wender, who will chair the pivotal Student Affairs Committee (SAC) this year, said he was less then enthusiastic about the election results. 

"[The WSA] did an adequate job advertising for the elections, but it’s nothing to pat our backs about," Wender said.

Last year’s elections were marked by a higher percentage of frosh voters (43 percent, with 302 votes); fourteen percent of upperclassmen voted, with 295 votes.

"Overall, I think [the elections] went well," Calica said. "It is a continuing battle to get the campus voting at a desirable level. We do need to do a better job advertising; [for example,] the WSA webpage needs to be updated. One major problem is information scheduling, which reaches beyond the elections. There is no one central place to get information on campus."

Lack of information may have been one reason many students felt ill-prepared to vote.

"I only saw signs and never really got to know who any of the candidates were or what they stood for," said Hannah Tenant-Moore ’04. "I didn’t want to vote for somebody without an understanding of who they were and only on the basis of hearing their names."

Redoing the Constitution will be an attempt to set new clarity and strategy for the organization to follow in the future.

"We are trying to find out why we are here and what we are doing as an organization," Calica said. "Just because we’re not an activist organization per se doesn’t mean we’re not a proactive one."

Michael Lewis ’03, vice president of the WSA, said the interest in rewriting the constitution came from findings of a committee of WSA members last year, which Lewis chaired, that tried to find ways to make the WSA a more effective organization that works better for students.

"One way to do that is to make the president a more viable force in the WSA structure," Lewis said. "The new constitution will give the WSA a more active voice."

On Sunday, the WSA held its first meeting, at which time all members were assigned to specific subcommittees.

"The meeting was long but productive," Lewis said. "The freshman were a very active group of people. I see potential for a lot of people to be productive leaders."

Out of 15 frosh on the ballot, the nine students elected were Ryan Ungaro (with 155 votes), Sohana Punithakumar (with 141), Zoe Sarah Goldberg (with 128), Nicholas Blondin (with 126), Alvaro Garcia Jr. (with 123), Jacko Shun Man Tsang (with 121), Una Osato (with 120), and Camille Zahniser and Sarah Abramson (each with 117).

Frosh representative Alvaro Garcia said he has been involved in student government since elementary school. Garcia said he wanted to get to know the goings on campus, and then act upon them. He will be a member of SAC.

Jacko Shun Man Tsang said she ran for the WSA because she really liked Wesleyan and wanted to do something for the University. 

"I’ll pay special attention to people who think differently," said Tsang, who will be on the Community Outreach Committee (COCO).

"The freshman are great this year," Wender said. "I think we’re going to have a great year. There are great people doing great things."

With the help of their new frosh representatives, the WSA has some major campus issues to tackle this year.

"We’re already dealing with the [issue of the newly enforced] alcohol policy," Calica said.

Wender said he and his committee, SAC, will be on the front lines of this issue, but wanted to make clear that it is not an antagonistic situation between students and the Administration.

Space issues are also a main concern for the WSA. 

"Next year the ’92 theatre will be completely unusable [as it undergoes a year-long renovation process]. We’ll be working with Second Stage to figure out the problem and make sure student theatre continues," Wender said.

Also, Clark Hall will be renovated beginning in May and continuing for possibly as long as the entire 2001-2002 school year. Wender said the renovations will have a profound effect on students and WESU, the campus radio station which is currently housed in Clark.