Senate general elections announced, celebrated on Pomerantz Stage
Photo: Lauren Horsch
Senate candidates and their supporters gathered around Pomerantz Stage at midnight on Tuesday to get the big news on the big election. Ten senators ran for nine at-large positions.
Napoleon Douglas took over 700 votes — the most of any candidate. Zach Keller was close behind with 616. Stephen Slade managed 598, while Joey Gale garnered a sound 577. Rounding out the bottom half were Emily Grimm, Ekta Haria, Michael Riebel, Natalie Larson and Breanna Thompson — the sleeper candidate campaigning from abroad this semester.
But perhaps just as many people arrived at the election results hoping for a reveal from faux-candidate Chad Stephens. While the mystery man’s Twitter feed was active in the moments leading up to the closing of the polls, he remained silent past midnight. His posts included a Foursquare check-in at Pomerantz Stage and a mysterious video splicing cuts from the film “The Dark Knight” with footage of what appears to be the man from the photos walking down Greek Street on a rainy day and “Vote Chad Stephens” papers flying off the press. “The Dark Knight” clips conveyed the message that he is perhaps the senator we need, but not the one we deserve right now.
All told, Stephens managed a paltry 206 votes, pacing only Drake Squirrel who managed 174.
Election night results
Senators-at-Large
- Napoleon Douglas — 772 votes
- Zach Keller — 616
- Stephen Slade — 598
- Joey Gale — 577
- Emily Grimm — 551
- Ekta Haria — 544
- Michael Riebel — 544
- Natalie Larson — 450
- Breanna Thompson — 449
- Taylor Crow — 404
- Julianne Klampe (write-in) — 227
Academic Senators
- Dan Pfeifle — 285 (Arts & Sciences)
- Ethan Gascho — 185 (CBPA)
- Josh Abbott — 71 (Education)
- Michael Terrell — 143 (Fine Arts)
- Rebecca Mataloni — 44 (SJMC)
- Natalie Gadbois — 159 (CPHS)
Diversity Senators
- James Ley — 679
I’m pretty sure my exact words were “he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” You’ve got it backwards.
The outrage surrounding the candidacy of Chad Stephens was embarrassing. If anything, it showed how the student senate election committee takes themselves too seriously. As a student, I knew Chad Stephens was a fake candidate, and I found the posters for him to be quite entertaining. Everybody did. The people on the election committee were the only ones who thought that it was making a mockery of the election. A mockery of the election? That election was already a mockery. The vote was for student senator, a meaningless and useless position. The fact they were so insulted by the concept of having fun just showed that the whole student senate establishment is a joke itself, filled with embarrassingly ambitious individuals who have an undeserved sense of power and who look down upon the student body as if the rest of us were inferior beings who are not fit to kiss the ground they walk upon. Congratulations to all the new student senators, I hope that you enjoy being a part of an overbearing organization filled with people who think they are better than everyone else.