Allen, Boudreaux elected senior reps.

Lindsay Allen and Patience Boudreaux were elected senior class representatives last weekend, with 119 and 58 votes respectively after transfer.

The results of the special election, which was held after an appeals board voted to overturn the results of the first election, were presented to the Student Council (StuCo) at their meeting this week. The other two candidates, Whitney Austin and write-in candidate Raj Chopra, received 23 and 15 votes respectively.

The total turnout from the senior class was 148 voters, representing about 15 percent of the class. According to StuCo President Manish Gala, the turnout was higher than it was for the first election, a fact he attributed to lightened regulations.

"The change in rules really made a difference ... there was an immediate gain," said Gala. "It's a good sign."

Gala said lightened rules lead to more candidates, which in turn leads to better voter turnout.

StuCo Treasurer Elise Roecker reported that the Student Activities Commission (SAC) "is in good shape" with several thousand dollars and only two more meetings remaining. StuCo operating costs are currently at $842.99, so no more funding requests will be entertained for the rest of the year.

She also reported on the SAC General Assembly (GA) Liaison Elections, which took place Monday, in which the new board was elected. StuCo members then voted to approve the SAC annual budget. Roecker said that there will be two meetings in May for groups who wish to resubmit funding requests.

Morgan MacDonald, a sophomore and member of the task force for the creation of the Africana Studies Center and the accompanying major and minor, reported on the group's progress. The proposed major and minor were approved by the Curriculum Committee just last week, and now must pass through the Academic Council. He said that the sophomore class can expect to be able to major in the program, and juniors and seniors can count relevant courses retroactively. It will be an interdisciplinary major, and a senior thesis option will be made available.

MacDonald said the group hopes to have a degree checklist done over the summer. There are currently six professors teaching courses in the major, and more faculty will be hired in the future.

The Board of Elections (BoE) nominees were brought before StuCo. The co-chair nominees were Rick Aseltine and Matt Bouloubasis; general member nominees were Mary Keough, Prashant Rao, Dan Herr, Eric Wolkoff and Shamim Ahmad. The candidates were asked their views on several topics, including ways to increase voter turnout, how priority will be set and how the Board will avoid the problems that showed up in this year's election.

Aseltine, a current general member and candidate for co-chair, said, "We'd like to see the candidates and Student Council help us with voter turnout. We need you to help us [to ensure that] we get quality members [in the elections] next year."

The seven nominees were approved as the new BoE for next year.

The Ethics Board made several changes to its constitution which were approved by the Ethics Board and the Curriculum Committee. John Tiberi, current co-chair of the board, brought the constitution before StuCo for approval. The changes include the creation of the "Educational Chair" officer, inclusion of student representatives assigned to each side of an Ethics Board hearing, an increase in the number of student board members and the transfer of responsibility from the Dean of Students back to the Presiding Official. StuCo approved the changes.

Leigh Anne Lieberman, a freshman, was nominated for the Ethics Board. Because she was unable to attend last week's StuCo meeting in which the other board members were approved, she was brought before the council this week to make her statements and answer questions.

"I firmly believe the Ethics Board here [at Hopkins] is well on its way to establishing a strong system," she said. "I want to be there to [guide it]."

Lieberman was approved as a general member of the Ethics Board.

Final announcements included Senior Week packages going on sale today. Ravi Kavasery, president of the Class of 2003, stated that there was "tremendous response from the senior class," even from those who don't normally turnout for student programming.

He also announced plans for commencement, saying it will be "one of the most beautiful commencement [ceremonies] at Hopkins, by far."

Cristal Ng, president of the Class of 2006, announced Freshman Week. There will be theme days, like "T-Shirt Madness Monday." The formal will take place on Friday, at a cost of $2 for each attendee.