The SGO election and survey were held on Thursday. The election took place exclusively online, with under 500 students voting and filling out the survey.
Bob Razavi '03 was elected to the Committee on Priorities and Resources, with 37 percent of the votes. Ben Baum '03 ran uncontested and captured 86 percent of the votes and was elected to the Library Committee, and Julie Babayan '03 was elected to the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid with 79 percent of the votes.
"I'm really excited," Baum said. "I'm looking forward to working on both the SGO and the Library Committee."
The survey portion asked voters a variety of questions covering topics such as discrimination, diversity, meal plans, social life, academic and financial issues, the problem of freshman housing, cheating and the registration process.
According to SGO Vice President Michelle Oliveros-Larsen '02, the questions on the survey focused on issues that student senators wanted to address. She added that the questions did not necessarily reflect issues that the administration or faculty were looking into, but that they often look to the survey to determine how the student body feels about certain issues.
In response to questions about dorm renovations, 42 percent of voters said they would prefer renovating Pratt and Morrow to become freshman dorms, making Valentine an upperclass dorm, and constructing new upperclass housing, while 29 percent would rather see Williston Hall and the Pratt Geology building converted into freshman housing instead. Additionally, 60 percent said it should be a priority for all freshmen students to live on the freshmen quad.
The survey also asked voters a variety of questions about cheating, exam schedules and the College's Statement of Intellectual Responsibility. Oliveros-Larsen said that incidents of cheating at the College have increased over the past few years and that the faculty has raised concerns about cheating and how it is handled. She said that there has also been concern over the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility and whether or not it is comparable to the honor codes that many other colleges have. Oliveros-Larsen added that the questions were aimed at determining the degree to which cheating is a problem at the College, how effective the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility is and whether the professors are discussing it enough at the start of each semester.
Ninety-two percent of the students said they had never cheated while at the College. Additionally, 72 percent reported that they didn't see cheating in their classes, and 64 percent said they did not see cheating or plagiarism outside of their classes.
"The number of people who admitted to cheating was lower than I expected, but voters might not want to admit that they cheated," said SGO President Steve Ruckman '01.
However, Ruckman added that, despite the fact that only eight percent of voters admitted to cheating, many people still see it as a problem at the College. Forty-seven percent of voters said that they thought cheating was a problem at the College, and only 36 percent said that they thought the College's cheating policy was strict enough.
According to Oliveros-Larsen, the survey's question about a new environmental studies major being offered was aimed at determining if there is enough interest to expand the number of majors in the future. While only 14 percent said that they would pursue an environmental studies major if it were offered, Ruckman said that this was a good sign, because it represents more support than some of the other majors currently offered have. He added that on the next survey there will likely be a question to determine the demand for a Latino studies major.
"The election went really well," Oliveros-Larsen said. "Doing it online has been amazing, and it was a good trial for the election in the spring. I only wish more people had voted."