Tyler Ocon to chair newly appointed SA elections committee

Junior Tyler Ocon has been approved as chair of the Undergraduate Student Association Elections Committee for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Ocon has been involved with the Student Association since his first year on campus and served on the USAEC committee in the fall of 2009.

"I have complete confidence that Tyler is fully competent," said senior Will Labate, director of student affairs for SA. "I think he'll do a great job as chair."

USAEC, a standing committee of the SA, is in charge of running elections for the fall and spring semesters. Duties inherent in this responsibility include handling paperwork and advertising election dates.

Policy interpretation is also a major responsibility of the USAEC chair, a component of the position that often becomes critical during elections. "I'd like to see changes in the guidelines for freer and fairer elections," said Labate. Until the rest of the committee is formed, however, no decisions can be made. "Nothing is concrete," Ocon said.

On Wednesday, SA approved five new members for the USAEC board: sophomores Kasey Hoar, Andrew Perry and Justin Shapiro and seniors Bernard Goehle and Beth Semel. SA president, senior Doug Sinski, chose the USAEC committee with advisement from Ocon. "I have no doubt that they will all do a good job," Ocon said.

This fall, elections are being held for all first year class officer positions: president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Although USAEC hasn't started advertising, Ocon said there has been a lot of interest so far.

"Any fee paying student can apply," Ocon said, encouraging students to get involved.

Elections will be held Oct. 20 - 21 and interest meetings are scheduled for Sept. 22 and 23 in the College Union Ballroom. Questions can be sent to saelections@geneseo.edu.

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