Five Tickets To Run For UC Leadership

The five tickets announced yesterday for Undergraduate Council president and vice president are a combination of insiders and outsiders, campus politicos and comedians.

Three of the candidates for president are current UC representatives. The candidates are ethnically diverse, including four African-Americans. Many are active in campus drama and comedy groups, including three who have been involved with the comic and fake news program “On Harvard Time.” Two tickets are planning to run humorous campaigns, with one even putting forward a senior for president.

“It’s good to have people who are truly outsiders running on ideas we don’t normally see,” UC President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 said. “Whether or not those are humorous is besides the point.”

The three UC insider tickets include members who serve on both the advocacy and finance branches of the organization.

Andrea R. Flores ’10, a Currier resident and the chair of the UC’s Finance Committee is in her third year on the council. She has been involved in groups including Raza and the Harvard College Democrats, and is a member of the Seneca.

Flores is not running with David F. Boswell ’10, as originally rumored, but instead with Kia J. McLeod ’10, a Leverett resident who is in her first year on the UC and is its public relations director.

Benjamin P. Schwartz ’10, a Winthrop resident, served on the UC as a freshman and has returned for his junior year. He is a vice-chair on the UC’s advocacy-focused Student Affairs Committee. He has served on the College Events Board since his sophomore year, and is now the CEB’s vice-chair. He is also a member of the Fly final club. Schwartz’s running mate is Alneada D. Biggers ’10, a Pforzheimer resident who is the secretary of the College Events Board.

Charles T. James ’09-’10, a Leverett resident and member of SAC, is in his first year on the UC. He is the Leverett HoCo social chair, and a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship as well as the Black Students Association. He has also participated in “On Harvard Time.”

The other end of his ticket is Max H. Y. Wong ’10, an Eliot resident who has been an advocate of Administrative Board reform, which has recently been a top priority for the UC.

The field is rounded out by two humorous tickets.

The presidential candidate for one ticket is Roger G. Waite ’10, a Winthrop resident who is publisher of the Salient and was its managing editor last year. He is also a member of Harvard Right to Life. His running mate is Alexandra A. Petri ’10, who is co-president of the Harvard Stand-Up Comedy Society. and a Crimson columnist

“Roger is hoping to cast the UC process in a more humorous light.” said Petri, “One of our main concerns is pulling the joke vote.”

The other ticket is led by a senior, Michael C. Koenigs ’09, who served as the president of Harvard-Radcliffe Television, which runs “On Harvard Time,” writes for Let’s Go travel guides, and currently leads the Harvard Hooligans blog.

His vice presidential candidate is Aneliese K. Palmer ’12, who is a member of the comedy groups the Immediate Gratification Players and “On Harvard Time.”

According to UC Election Commission Chair Steven T. Cupps ’09, who is also a Crimson editorial writer, election rules do not prohibit Koenigs from running.

James predicted that the mix of insider and humorous tickets would make this election “probably the most entertaining in recent memory...This year people will want to watch seriously, if only for comic relief.”

Campaigning begins Monday, Dec 1 and voting will run from Friday, Dec. 12 to Monday, Dec. 15 at noon.

—Staff writer Alex M. McLeese can be reached at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu.