Med Student Wins UB Council Election

Medical student David Brooks was announced Thursday as the winner of the UB Council election, which was held online from Monday to Wednesday.

Brooks won the council's sole student representative spot with 32.3 percent of the vote. The second-place candidate, Andy Wells, had 18.2 percent of the vote.

This was the first time the UB Council election was conducted online and the election went less than smoothly, as one candidate was disciplined for campaign violations and investigations were held into the campaigns of two others.

According to Jennifer Wantz, the student activities associate for the Office of Student Life, 468 students voted in the election. No minimum voter participation is required for the election to be valid.

Brooks earned a degree in applied economics from UB before going to medical school, where he is attempting to earn a joint degree in business and medicine.

"I'm very excited to represent a student body," said Brooks. "I'm excited about finally making some changes in the university."

Even though less than two percent of the student body voted in the election, Brooks praised the new online voting system.

"Voting on the web was a fantastic idea," said Brooks. "Although there were glitches in the system, I think it should be web voting from now on."

Brooks will serve as the lone student representative on the 10-member Council, which acts as an advisory board to the highest levels of UB's administration. The other nine members are appointed by the Governor of New York and serve seven-year terms.

"I plan to meet with all of the student government presidents and get feedback on various issues," Brooks said.

Brooks will replace Jennifer Tuttle, who served for two years and participated in the search committee that chose President Simpson this fall.

Despite the prestige of the Council seat, most students said they were unaware of the election. About 150 students voted for Brooks - less than one percent of the student body.

With E-mails sent out, fliers put up, ads placed in campus media and notices posted on the UB Learns Web site, Wantz said Student Life and the election committee did their part to get out the vote.

At a certain point, however, said Wantz, it's up to the candidates to attract voters.

"The awareness and participation is all based on what the candidates do," she said. "We do our part."

Denise Berkley, a sophomore nursing major, said she knew about the election, but didn't vote because she knew nothing about any of the candidates.

"I never vote," said Berkley.

Frank Derasmo, a freshman architecture major, said he voted, but only because a candidate personally approached him and told him to.

Along with a low turnout, the council election suffered from another glitch - three of the candidates faced some type of investigation for illegal campaigning.

The elections committee found Matthew Pelkey, a candidate who is also president of the College Republicans, guilty of illegal campaigning because he sent an e-mail to fellow club members regarding his candidacy. He received 20 hours of community service for the infraction.

Andy Wells, who is a graduate student in the law school and a member of the Student Bar Association, was investigated for sending out a mass e-mail to fellow association members. The investigation revealed, however, the e-mail was sent without Wells' knowledge, and pursuit of penalty was dropped.

One unidentified candidate is being investigated for setting up an illegal polling station. The candidate, who Wantz would not name until a penalty is handed out, was caught getting students to vote on a laptop computer.

Penalties against candidates are decided by the election committee, which has a representative from each of the five student governments.

Another person, an undergraduate not running in the election, is contesting the results based on difficulties he or she had voting online.

Despite the election's glitches, Wantz said the Office of Student Life was pleased with how the elections ran.

"I think we've made huge strides as far as advertisement goes," Wantz said. "The election committee is very happy with the results."

~Additional reporting by George Zornick and Jennifer Fusco.