Dwyer wins coveted CC chair

Author: Hilary Hall

Despite voting glitches, a wide majority of student voters elected Molly Dwyer '10 as the Student Co-Chair of the Community Council (SCCOCC) for the 2009-2010 academic year. Dwyer, a two-year Community Council veteran, gained 466 of the 731 votes cast and beat out two first-year candidates, Ethan Schmertzler and Shen Yoong. Dwyer will replace Antoinette Rangel '09, whose term ends this May.

But the voting period on Thursday did not begin well - a computing error made by Library and Information Services (LIS) meant that eager voters who turned their ballots in early had to vote again later that day, according to Ian McBride, lead programmer for LIS. The initial ballot also only allowed students to vote for the Honor Code referendum, and not the Student Government Association (SGA) and SCCOCC candidates.

"The error was realized quickly and voting was stopped, the error was fixed, and then voting was quickly restarted," said Janet Gehrmann, chair of the SGA Elections Committee. "SGA did not have control over the error, but we reacted quickly to it and the ability to vote was restored to students."

Also, SGA presidential candidate Nick Alexander's name was missing from the preliminary ballot; his name was added after the other technical glitches were fixed.

Voting was extended from 2 p.m. Thursday to 2 p.m. Friday to allow students additional time to vote.

McBride is unsure whether the errors had an effect on the voter turnout or outcome of the election.

"I don't know how it could have affected the voting," said McBride. "But all of the students had a chance to vote."

Dwyer's campaign emphasized her past experience on Community Council. As she was running against two first-years, neither of whom had served on the Council before, this platform clearly resonated with students.

Dwyer also said she hoped to raise awareness of the Community Council, the decision-making body representing students, faculty amd staff. Some students remain in the dark about what the group actually does and its purpose at Middlebury, despite the Council's significant role in many developmental and administrative decisions.

"I want to spread awareness of Community Council and what we do so that we can be more actively connected to the broader community," Dwyer said. "I have been lucky enough to have been on the council with Rangel and Eric Hoest '08, who were great co-chairs, and I hope that I will be able to emulate their strengths."

For current co-chair Rangel's part, she is confident in Dwyer's ability to lead the Council.

"I think Molly will do an excellent job," she said. "She has the experience and has been an active member