One of Student Council's College seats was empty, after one of its representatives moved to a higher Student Council position last spring. Wednesday night, the Arts and Sciences Council chose Nick Jabbour to fill it.
Jabbour, a third-year College student, ran on a platform promoting increased undergraduate research and funding for the College. He won a majority of votes in a three-person race against Prince Agarwal and Hana Elkhazin.
Kelly Harris vacated the seat when she was elected Student Council vice president for organizations last March.
Jabbour, who was a representative last year and who also ran for the VPO position, will serve as representative until the end of the semester, when Harris' term would have ended.
He now chairs the Student Council Legislative Affairs Committee, and with his new position he said he hopes to improve other areas of University life, particularly academic concerns.
Jabbour, a government and bioethics major, has only eight or nine Council meetings left in his term, but he said he hopes to expand undergraduate research options at the University in the time he has left.
"There is a huge interest in undergraduate research," and the 40 Undergraduate Research Awards are not enough, Jabbour said. He pointed out that "our peer institutions have full-fledged offices for undergraduate research," and a lot can be done to improve the University's opportunities for research for undergraduate students.
In the long term, Jabbour hopes to work on restructuring the University's funding priorities.
Jabbour also said he hopes to start discussion about renovating New Cabell Hall and other College classroom buildings, and also about improving the student-faculty ratio in certain departments.
"Everyone knows there are not enough classes in departments like economics, foreign affairs and government," he said, adding that some people have trouble finishing their majors because they cannot get into classes they need. He said he hopes to focus the University's attention on alleviating these problems.
When a seat on Student Council is vacated, the governing body of its school elects a new representative.
ASC invited interested people to fill out applications and circulate petitions. ASC then reviewed the applications and invited candidates to address ASC and answer questions on Wednesday night. Then the members voted based on the candidates' speeches.
ASC president Heather Gordon said she thinks Jabbour was elected because "he showed great knowledge of Student Council and interest in College students."
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