Denice-Montenegro win election

Chris Denice, CSOM '09, and Alejandro Montenegro, A&S '09, took 2,018 of the 3,895 votes cast on Thursday and Friday to win the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) presidential election. Denice and Montenegro received 51.8 percent of the total votes in an election, which marked an increase in votes of over 59 percent from the 2,337 votes cast in last year's election.

Kyle Greenleaf, director of BC Votes and LSOE '10, was thrilled with the increased voter turnout, in which over 42 percent of the student body voted. "BC Votes had some effect, but all the teams, the candidates themselves, did a phenomenal job doing dorm walks, getting the word out to vote. I really think the Elections Committee decision to let the candidates use Facebook was a big factor," Greenleaf said. "I think the campaigns did a better job of pulling freshmen in this year."

Denice and Montenegro too were thrilled with the results of the election, and are already formulating plans for their tenure as president and vice president of the UGBC, positions they will take over in May.

The team's first step will be to continue work on projects already underway.

"One of the projects I'm already working on is to reassess what the budget pays for, making sure the events we've been funding as a tradition is being spent for the greater good of the student body. For example, the UGBC has been paying for the Breaking the Barriers Ball for over 18 years. The UGBC has a constant budget, while students expect a bigger event every year. The budget has to benefit everyone," Denice said.

Of his personal endeavors, Montenegro said, "In my deptartment [in the UGBC], we're working on getting the e-syllabus system up and running and on a creative way to get the PEPS system up-to-date."

Denice and Montenegro have both held positions in the UGBC prior to the election. Denice most recently held the position of chief of staff, while Montenegro worked as assistant director of University Affairs. Denice believes the duo's experience will help them hit the ground running when they take office in the spring. He cited "knowing who we have to meet, knowing the process, and getting to see a lot of what Jenn and Dan did" as advantages provided by his UGBC involvement. "This will not be my first time attending budget meetings and planning events," Denice said. "It will be a great way to start off."

Denice and Montenegro intend to remain in Boston through the summer, when they hope to put their plans into motion.

"We'll be working [over the summer] to reevaluate the UGBC's role in campus activities. We want students to have more of a say in the implementation of the Master Plan, and we'll be getting started on a lot of our long term projects," Denice said. "By the end of this semester, our goal is to put out a pilot for the flat screen notification system. We want to have one or two on campus by the time we leave for the summer."

Denice cited the relationship between students living off campus and the Allston-Brighton community as the biggest challenge he will face in the upcoming year.

"We want to appoint a position as off campus liaison. They will attend all the Allston-Brighton community meetings and act as a face for the student body to go back to," Denice said. "We hope that in September when sophomores move in, they'll have a working understanding of what it means to live off-campus, what their rights are, et cetera."

Montenegro also recognized the challenges he and his running mate will face in the coming year.

"It's a challenge every year to incorporate as much student voice as possible. With some initiatives, it's always going to be an uphill battle, but we've developed the relationships we need to succeed," Montenegro said.

Despite any challenges they may face, Denice and Montenegro have plenty of plans waiting to be put into action. One of these plans includes some reorganization of the UGBC structure. Denice said he intends to move the finance positions, currently under the jurisdiction of the operations department, under the umbrella of the executive department. Denice also hopes to form a new Superfan committee that will publicize events and generate enthusiasm for BC athletics.

Other future ventures include the creation of a women's issue council that will increase communication between women's groups on campus and improvement of the current diversity core requirement.

With regard to changes that need to be made to diversity issues at BC, Montenegro said, "I figure it's more cultural diversity in general [than just the cultural diversity core]. We're going to be working with the Dr. Anderson Franklin, the Nelson chair at BC, to promote diversity among the students, staff, and the administration. We're going to reevaluate the cultural diversity core so that it addresses what it's supposed to be addressing."

The victory was proceeded by some rather unusual events during campaigning activities on Thursday. Former presidential candidates Rhick Bose, A&S '09, and Anand Savani, A&S '09, were observed posting and distributing fliers in the Quad and in and around computer stations, which, during voting days, are considered places of polling. The fliers consisted of the pre-edited letter to the editor submitted to The Heights and was titled, "Read what The Heights won't tell you."

"I distributed it in a lot of places, but I'm not really sure what constitutes a polling place," Bose said. "I know O'Neill is a technically polling place, but I'm not sure how many kids actually go there to vote. We didn't distribute just there, we distributed everywhere."

In their letter, Bose, Savani, and the other signatories - all former candidates themselves - attributed comments to Denice and Montenegro. According to the letter, Denice and Montenegro said that Editor-in-Chief Pilar Landon failed to control The Heights endorsement meeting, "while the former editor-in-chief shouted at the duo over an unimportant distinction." Denice and Montenegro were the only non-board members present at the endorsement meeting.