Losing Virginity but Winning Race Goal of Levy

You may have smiled at his blue hair and farcical posters, but David L. Levy '00 says his campaign for Undergraduate Council president should not be laughed off.

Janet E. Rosenbaum '98-'99, a staffer on the Levy campaign and a member of the council's Campus Life Committee, says "his tactics are humorous, but his motives are very serious."

Levy says he is using satire to catch the attention of students, and that the ability to laugh at one's self is paramount to this goal.

"We've already lost $40,000 of your money. Imagine what we could do for your virginity," says one of Levy's posters, which touts increased condom distribution in the Houses and first-year dorms.

And next to other candidates' posters, Levy and his staff also affix small sheets proclaiming "David Levy doesn't make unfulfillable promises."

"The council takes itself too seriously," Levy says. "We're all working for the common good."

An English concentrator living in Adams House, Levy is running for election on a platform of re-politicizing the council and producing tangible results for students.

"The council needs to lose its prom committee state of mind in order to really enact any change on campus. I don't consider Springfest to be a student service--that's not what the council should be about," Levy says.

According to Levy, in the past, the council has taken too much of a student government posture. He says it needs to act more as an advocate for students, representing the student body's wishes rather than their own.

Without any prior experience on the council, Levy is relying on his experience in other student groups to serve as an effective leader. Levy is a former producer of the Freshman Musical, and one of the leaders of BAGELS, a group for bisexual, gay and lesbian Jewish students which is affiliated with Hillel. He is also the only non-first year on the board of Satire V, a new humor magazine on campus.

Hearkening back to a debate that began two years ago, Levy supports spinning the Campus Life Committee into a separate campus organization. The idea is to give the new organization seed money, and then require it to make a profit on student events in order to subsist.

"The council needs to take its place as one in a sea of student organizations," Levy says.

In the tradition of former council president Lamelle D. Rawlins '99, Levy wants to re-politicize the debates that go on in the council. He says the council should not shy away from "sensitive" issues such as ethnic studies.

But Levy says he does not believe student services are unimportant. One of his main goals is to increase the amount of money that goes to student organizations.

"[Money] needs to go back to the students--there's never enough money for student groups," Levy says.

Levy also promotes giving students more of a say in where council money is spent.

"I think he's a great leader," says Talya M. Weisbard '00, who works with Levy at Hillel. "He is really friendly and good at meeting new people and getting input from them on how policy should be set."