Sophomore class President Simone Chen introduced Lindsay Allen as the new Class of 2004 vice president at last week's Student Council meeting. Chen became president after former President Bob Alleman resigned from his position on Feb. 26. Allen was chosen by Chen and approved by the rest of the Student Council officers.
Allen said that it took a few weeks to choose the vice president because "Student Council had to see if someone wanted the position and it needed to decide who wanted it."
Both Allen and other Student Council officers feel that she has enough experience to fulfill the responsibilities of her position. Allen was the class social chair last year and was on the social board this year. Allen said that the main role of the vice president is to take care of social events and social programming, which she is already familiar with.
Student Council President Anuj Mittal said, "I think her transition from social chair to vice president has been fairly smooth because the vice president mainly takes care of social programming."
Chen said, "The decision to choose a vice president was left open to me so I looked to the social board. Lindsay had shown a lot of spirit and enthusiasm. She helped me organize events last year when I was vice president."
None of the Student Council officers felt that the changes among the sophomore class' officers have had a negative effect on the sophomore class or Student Council. In fact, many felt that the changes have been positive.
Allen said, "There have been no problems. We're getting fresh blood into the system. Basically, we're replacing one enthusiastic person for another enthusiastic person."
"The changes are beneficial to the class because now it is even more efficient. The officers are all well suited to their roles," said Mittal.
During the time that the sophomore class had no vice president, Chen took on the responsibilities of both the president and the vice president. Allen said that "Chen balanced the responsibilities very well."
"The entire social board helped out and all of our events went as planned. There was never any lack of manpower," said Allen.
Allen remarked that the sophomore class and Student Council were busy planning for upcoming Student Council sponsored events, including Spring Break II at Baha Beach Club tonight, Battle of the Bands this Saturday, a class T-shirt sale and movie screenings.
"I definitely have a lot more responsibility now as vice president. And, that's fine," said Allen.
Alleman's resignation was the third resignation by a Student Council officer this academic year. Senior Shanu Kohli resigned as senior class vice president on Nov. 6 and senior Vivek Ayer resigned as senior class representative on Dec. 4. The senior class chose Meredith Price as senior class vice president and Renato Carfagno as class representative in December.
Mittal said that although there were resignations last year as well, these resignations are not very typical: "Student Council is pretty demanding, especially this year, because there has been a heavy emphasis on politics and on the constitution." He also added that sometimes people have outside interests that they want to pursue. He felt that "it is healthy for Student Council to make these re-adjustments."
Alleman resigned from his position as sophomore class president in February to pursue other interests. He is the co-founder and producer of the JHU Shakespeare Company, which is performing the play Much Ado About Nothing this spring.
"I've had two or three times as much work as I've had to do for Student Council. Student Council only meets once a week but the Company meets several times a week," said Alleman.
"No one on Student Council can be criticized for a lack of commitment. I was there when the seniors left. I think that when an elected official feels that he or she needs to move on to other things, he or she should do so immediately so that the work does not suffer," Alleman said.
