After a meeting that lasted nearly five hours, Student Union senators and treasury representatives elected junior Pam Bookbinder as their new vice president Wednesday night. Bookbinder will replace Katie Leikhim, who resigned from the position last week.
“I’m excited to get to work. I feel really honored that I was elected,” said Bookbinder. “It should be a very exciting, busy few weeks [before break].”
Bookbinder, who recently finished a term as speaker of the Senate, has been involved in SU for the past two and a half years. Within the organization, she has also served as Food Committee Chair and Campus Services for two terms.
“I absolutely love being in Student Union and part of being in Student Union is stepping up to do things,” said Bookbinder, answering one senator’s question.
Following her appointment, she plans to hit the ground running. Bookbinder has already cleared room on her schedule to meet with the Social Programming Board and the committee on Outreach, Retention and Recruitment.
“I want to make sure that SU is planning large-scale events that a lot of undergrad students can come to,” she said. “I want to make it so a lot of people run and vote in elections.”
The Senate and Treasury convened a joint session beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday and finishing with Bookbinder’s election at 2:37 a.m. Thursday.
“In my notes I had good evening, but I guess now it’s good morning,” said junior Erin Robinson, the first candidate to speak after midnight. Most senators and treasurers remained for the duration, which included the nomination of seven students, five of whom accepted their nominations.
Questions over Leikhim’s resignation still found their way into the meeting, largely fueled by Senator Tony Zand, a junior. Zand nominated Leikhim for the position and questioned the first nominee, senior Brian Nakash, about his thoughts on the controversy.
Speaker of the Treasury Ed Banti judged the question out of order, stating that such information had “nothing to do with responsibilities as vice president.”
SU representatives debated Banti’s ruling, then affirmed it and disallowed Zand’s question regarding Leikhim’s resignation.
Bookbinder had a meeting with Leikhim yesterday to discuss plans for next semester.
“I wanted to hear what her ideas were for the position,” said Bookbinder. “I still really want her to be involved because I think she’s a great person and would have been a great VP had the situation been different.”