There is an afterlife for the After Party.
On Sunday night, the Columbia College Student Council voted for Andy Kim, CC ’11, to fill an empty representative seat on the 2011 class council board, vacated by Roxanne Unger, CC ’11, who recently announced her decision to step down. Kim ran with the After Party ticket in the recent class council elections, but was the only member of the party not voted into office. CCSC elections run on an instant-runoff voting system, meaning that students rank the candidates rather than choosing one. The lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated from the race, and his or her votes are redistributed to other contenders.
Unger had run for a representative seat on the opposing Party Bus Party (Bus) ticket—helmed by current vice president of funding Nuriel Moghavem, CC ’11—and was the only member of her party to nab a council seat. As she was the lone member of the opposing ticket on the 2011 council, Unger informed CCSC last week of her decision to resign.
“To be the sole victor of my ticket does not feel right in light of all the time we put in together,” Unger wrote in an email. “I expect that the most productive and effective class council is a group that has a unified vision.”
In choosing a replacement, initially CCSC debated whether incoming members should be the ones to chose the representative, with some arguing that the general student body should be permitted to vote. But in line with the CCSC constitution, the council ultimately opted to make an internal appointment, with the incoming senior class council choosing nominees. Of the five students nominated, two decided to run, and on Sunday the incoming members chose Kim over Laura Gabriele, CC ’11, who lost in the recent executive board race.
This is not the first time a ticket has been split in elections—last year, two representatives from one party and one from the opposing were voted into office. But CCSC Elections Board chair James Bogner, CC ’10, said though that the resignation was unexpected. “I understand that party ties are important, but ultimately the events aren’t going to be tremendously different, and we’re all working toward the same things—so it is surprising,” Bogner said.
“He’s extraordinarily dedicated to class council and is a great team player,” incoming class of 2011 president Sean Udell, CC ’11, said of Kim. “I’m really looking forward to working with him as class rep.”
Udell added of Unger’s decision to step down, “I appreciate that she appeals to a different group of students, and that was a large portion of 2011ers who trusted her and trusted her ability to lead.”
Unger said in an email after Sunday’s vote that the ultimate outcome was for the best. “Though I’m sure Sean’s group would have been great to work with, I simply felt that Andy was the better fit—after all, that’s how his party intended their group in the first place,” she said.
Kim, after being voted in, said that he appreciated the opportunity to secure a seat on CCSC. “This is a role that I definitely wanted to take on. ... I knew that once it was vacated, I wanted to reclaim it and be able to serve for the class.”
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