Ryan Park '05 wins second AAS presidency

Student participation in the run-off election was low, with only 451 students voting. Park believes that some students may have decided not to vote because of how many elections are held throughout the course of the year.

“I think that students get somewhat fatigued by the constant elections,” he said. “I think that we need to streamline the elections process so that students aren’t expected to vote a dozen times a year.” In order to solve this problem, Park plans to propose an amendment to the senate which would work to solve this problem.

Graves was also disappointed by the low number of students who voted. “I think the low voter turnout is pretty pathetic,” she said. “E-mails are sent out on the very day of elections, so there really is no excuse for not voting other than apathy or not being well informed of the issues. I think both of these problems can be fixed and improve voter turnout.”

As a second-term president, Park hopes to draw on his previous experience in the coming year. “Next year I hope to use the experience I’ve gained to tackle some of the larger institutional problems I see at the College,” he said. “I would like to specifically work to reform the state of Interterm and improve our system of faculty advising.”

Park wants to continue to work on already-existing projects as well as find new ones. “I will be working to institutionalize The New York Times program and will look into reforming the way campus vans are administered,” he said. “I’ve come to learn, however, that much of my work finds me. Students are always e-mailing me or approaching me with concerns and I do my best to act upon them.”

As secretary, Graves hopes to increase student involvement in the AAS. “The main thing that I can hope to do is just serve as another voice of the student body and push for more AAS outreach and student involvement,” she said. “If we have more outreach from the AAS to the students, perhaps voter turnout will be larger since students will be more familiar with issues and different candidates’ positions on those issues.”

Park’s hope for next year is that the senate will be more engaged. “I would like to see the development of a more active and involved senate,” he said.