With election season coming up soon, the election board
chairperson was officially appointed during Tuesday’s
undergraduate student government meeting.
Nathan Lam, the newly appointed E-board chair, will hold the
responsibility as the principal facilitator of anything pertaining
to elections. Lam said he sees this opportunity as a way to give
back his services to the school.
“I have a good idea of what students want, and I plan to
implement everything that my job entails,” Lam said.
Lam’s appointment is long overdue. According to the USAC
bylaws, an E-board chair is supposed to be appointed before the
first week of fall quarter. USAC President Allende Palma/Saracho
said he had delayed the appointment because he was still evaluating
applicants and did not believe an E-board chair was necessary until
election season, around spring quarter, was closer.
Palma/Saracho’s choice to appoint Lam was supported by
members of the appointment review committee, the group established
to re-evaluate all recommended appointments.
Jenny Wood, a member of the ARC and general representative to
USAC, said, “(Lam) was a good choice because he seemed to be
very involved in different campus organizations, and that shows he
has leadership skills.
“The most important thing to me is that he had a genuine
investment in the students (and) for the voting process,” she
added.
Darren Chan, chairman of the ARC and internal vice president of
USAC, said that based on an interview they had last week, the
committee was assured Lam possessed integrity and was capable of
fulfilling the duties of the position.
The discussion at the meeting however, swayed back and forth as
Rick Tuttle, administrative alternate of USAC, made it a point to
reassert the importance of the role Lam would be taking on and the
large pressure it could impose on him. Tuttle said he wanted to
make sure Lam understood that he would be answering to the entire
student body if his ethics or honesty were ever questioned.
To add to Tuttle’s points, USAC Financial Supports
Commissioner Alex Gruenberg said Lam seemed to be driven by passion
in the previous projects he had taken on, but that as E-board chair
he would have to largely be the opposite ““ completely
objective. But both Tuttle and Gruenberg said they had no intention
of personally attacking Lam or questioning his integrity, but
rather wanted to reiterate and stress the demands of the job.
Last year’s E-board chair was Roy Samaan, a fourth-year
history and LGBT studies student. Samaan recommended in an
interview that Lam make sure everything is consistent and that
there is no confusion regarding the election code.
Samaan admits he should have been more explicit and direct with
candidates in regard to what they can and cannot do when he was
E-board chair.
Lam said he plans to form his E-board committee in the following
weeks.