Name: Emery Choi
Residential college: Branford
Class year: 2007
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Major: History
Emery Choi ’07, a Branford College representative on the YCC, said his experience organizing profitable campus-wide events would serve him well as treasurer.
Choi, who is active in the Korean American Students of Yale and his local church, was elected to the YCC in September. During his freshman year, Choi was the Branford representative on YSAC.
“I’ve been doing this my whole career,” he said. “It fits me very well, dealing with finance and issues of budgeting.”
As a member of YSAC, Choi chaired the 2003 Winter Ball, which he said made a profit of more than $4,000. He said he would expand campus-wide events like the ball while working to make them accessible to all students.
“The goal of the YCC should be to provide low-cost, high-quality events on campus,” he said.
Choi said if elected, he would try to address student complaints about insularity within residential colleges with programs like Movie Night, which would be similar to the program of film screenings at the School of Medicine.
Name: Bill Fishel
Residential college: Calhoun
Class year: 2008
Hometown: Denver, Colo.
Major: Undeclared
Although he has not yet completed his first year at Yale, Bill Fishel ’08 moved quickly into freshman class government as chairman of the Freshman Class Council and chair of the Freshman Screw.
Fishel, who now serves as activities chair of the FCC, also plays intramural sports and is treasurer of the Calhoun College Council. His ability to quickly develop relationships with other people in Calhoun and in the freshman class would translate well to a position on the YCC, he said.
“I think I’ve demonstrated my capacity to pick up the way things are done very quickly,” Fishel said.
The distribution of the new student activities fee will be a major responsibility of the next YCC treasurer, said Fishel, who hopes to create more campus-wide events like Spring Fling. Despite the new fee, he said he would still look to the University for funding of new events.
“I want to make sure that the onus stays on the administration,” he said. “I know which rocks to look under for funding.”
Fishel also said he wants to see the Flex program expanded and new late-night dining options created.
Name: Mark Godfrey
Residential college: Trumbull
Class year: 2008
Hometown: Liberty, Mo.
Major: Undeclared
Mark Godfrey ’08, a self-proclaimed “inner tube water aficionado,” represents Trumbull on both the Freshman Class Council and the YCC. Last semester, he was activities chair of the FCC and he is currently communications chair.
Godfrey said he is running on a platform of “inclusion, transparency and accessibility.” He said he wants to create more Yale-wide activities, but he would solicit new ideas from other student groups.
“We don’t know everything that works,” he said.
The new student activities fee would help fund new campus-wide initiatives, Godfrey said, but he would not reserve most of the money for the YCC.
“I want to make sure the activities fee gets distributed to everybody,” he said. “We don’t need to give the largest chunk to the YCC. It’s not just our money.”
If elected, Godfrey said he would work to keep YCC activities accessible to students by seeking publicity through campus newspapers.
“As long as we keep ourselves in the spotlight, people can see what we’re doing wrong and fix it,” he said. “It creates a good working environment.”
Name: Allison Pickens
Residential college: Trumbull
Class year: 2007
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pa.
Major: Ethics, politics and economics
Allison Pickens ’07, who has served as Trumbull College’s representative to the Yale College Council since January, said she would continue her work balancing financial differences among residential colleges as treasurer.
“Inequalities among residential colleges is one of my biggest concerns,” Pickens said.
Elected as a representative to the Freshman Class Council in the fall of 2003, she served as co-chair of last year’s Freshman Olympics. In her time on the FCC and YCC, she said she has pushed for reforms in Yale’s academic advising system and has worked to create more sophomore seminar opportunities. Pickens also said she has experience in leadership positions in both Yale Reachout and Yale International Relations Association, where she is chair of the Speakers Committee.
Pickens said especially during the inaugural year of the students’ sctivity fund it is important to make the YCC’s budget more transparent.
But Pickens said this race is about more than just bare issues.
“Personality is something you don’t get a sense of just from the issues,” Pickens said. “I’ve been enthusiastic. If I have an idea, I will go there.”
Jayson Tischler
Residential college: Pierson
Class year: 2007
Hometown: Rapid City, S.D.
Majors: Political science and psychology
Jayson Tischler ’07, who has served on the Freshman Class Council, Pierson College Council, Pierson Student Activities Committee and for two years on the Yale College Council, said his experience in campus politics separates him from the other candidates.
On the FCC last year, Tischler said he worked mainly on organizing social events, and since then he has focused on academic issues for the YCC, helping to implement the plan for Credit/D/Fail reform and pushing for improvements in academic advising and sophomore seminars.
With additional funds from the new Student Activity Fund, Tischler proposed creating a YCC-funded cultural day or weekend, an “all Greek” day that would be a “great opportunity for fraternities and sororities to get exposure,” a comedy show and a campus-wide film festival during the spring, inviting actors and directors to campus.
Tischler said he has the experience and relationships necessary to most effectively and fairly allocate funds.
“Most importantly, you don’t want someone to win who’s not genuinely going to be altruistic,” Tischler said.
Name: Larry Wise
Residential college: Morse
Class year: 2008
Hometown: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Major: Mathematics
Despite only being a freshman, Larry Wise ’08 says he has the experience from his participation in a wide breadth of campus activities and organizations to be the best candidate for treasurer in the field.
“My activities have encompassed such a broad range at Yale in such a short time,” Wise said. “The treasurer is going to have to be acquainted with all these aspects.”
Wise has served as the chair of Morse College’s Student Activities Committee and worked on-air at WYBC radio. He is currently a campus tour guide and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Drawing on his experience as a member of the club volleyball team, Wise said he will allocate more money from the student activities fee toward club sports, which he thinks are underfunded.
Wise has a background in finance, having served as budget director for his local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. He hopes to use the money from next year’s student activities fee to reinstitute the fall show — perhaps with a famous comedian — and bring live music to Cross Campus in the fall and spring similar to summer concerts held on the New Haven Green, make the YCC budget more transparent, and reform the complaint process at University Health Services.