With this year’s Yale College Council elections on the horizon, potential candidates for the six executive board positions are beginning to assemble their campaign teams and collect signatures.

The candidate pool for e-board positions is larger than last year, with four people considering running for president and vice-president so far, compared with only two candidates for both positions last year. Pete Croughan ’12, Jeff Gordon ’12, John Kim ’11 and Courtney Pannell ’11 all confirmed they are considering a run for president.

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Current President Jon Wu ’11 said he would not run for reelection, and the other five e-board members also said they will be stepping down at the end of the semester.

Croughan is an associate representative on YCC — a non-elected position in which he voluntarily attends meetings and participates in YCC initiatives — and co-chair of the Spring Fling Committee this year.

Gordon serves as a Saybrook YCC representative and served on the Freshmen Class Council last year. Though he did not want to reveal his full campaign platform, Gordon said that his work on academic policy this year as a YCC representative is an asset because the administration will be reviewing the changes implemented in the 2005 report of the Committee on Yale College Education next academic year.

“I have a lot of experience in debating faculty members and administrators on the benefits of certain changes,” he said.

Kim is a YCC representatives for Silliman College. He could not be reached for further comment.

Pannell, currently one of the Morse College representatives on the YCC, said she has worked to improve Undergraduate Career Services, expand mental health services, and plan Spring Fling and other projects in her two years on the council.

“I certainly hope that it will be a race in which the student body really gets engaged and people will come out to vote more than ever,” she said Thursday. “I hope a lot of issues are brought up.”

Pannell is a multimedia editor for the News.

Another four students are considering running for vice-president, a significantly larger candidate pool than that of last year, which only included current YCC Vice President Abigail Cheung ’11 and challenger Brian Levin ’11. Victoria Gilcrease-Garcia ’12 (who ran unsuccessfully for secretary last spring), Guillermo Peralta ’12 and Annie Shi ’12 are residential college representatives from Berkeley, Branford and Pierson, respectively. All three said Thursday they are likely to run.

Justine Kolata ’12 said Thursday she was also considering a run for the position, though she has no experience on the YCC or any of its affiliated organizations.

The vice-president usually runs elections, organizes meeting agendas and appoints standing committees.

Lauren Koster ’12, currently a Timothy Dwight representative, said Thursday that she is planning to run for YCC secretary, a position that entails keeping meeting minutes and managing council communications. Wu said Kat Lau ’13, current chair of the Freshman Class Council is also considering the position, though she did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.

Brandon Levin ’13, who chaired the Freshman Class Council last semester, and Lauren Noble ’11 are considering running for the position of treasurer, which entails regulating the YCC budget in cooperation with the Yale College Dean’s Office. Wu said Perrye Proctor ’12, a Jonathan Edwards representative, is also planning to run, though she did not respond to an e-mail request for comment Thursday.

Former Yale Student Activities Committee representative Michael Chao ’11 and Taylor Vaughn Lasley ’12, who has not served on a Yale student government body (and is a staff reporter for the News), both said they were considering running for events director, a position that is currently held by Mathilde Williams ’11 and is responsible for planning YCC events such as the Fall Show and Spring Fling.

Chris LoPresti ’12 and Murong Yang ’12, both of whom are current members of the Undergraduate Organizations Finance Committee, said they were considering running for the chair of that committee. Yang ran unsuccessfully for the position last year against current UOFC Chair Erin Fackler ’11, who said that another current member of the committee, Allen Granzberg ’13 is also considering running UOFC chair.

Possible candidates have until Tuesday to turn in a petition with 100 undergraduate signatures to the Yale College Dean’s Office; they must also register and submit a candidate statement on the YCC elections Web site. Elections will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 12; students can vote electronically for 24 hours on the YCC Web site. If needed, run-off elections will take place on Thursday, April 15.

EDITOR’S NOTE

One of the challenges facing student journalists is that reporters often live in the same dorms, or take the same classes, or share the same friends, as the people about whom they write.

Courtney Pannell ’11, a candidate for YCC president, is the multimedia editor for the News. Pannell will have no role in any decision or discussion related to coverage of the YCC. She will not see stories in advance of publication and will be treated like any other candidate.

Taylor Lasley ’12 and Victoria Gilcrease-Garcia ’12, who are running for other YCC offices, are contributors to the News and live with several staff reporters for the paper, including the author of the above article. These candidates will also be treated with the same scrutiny applied to all others.

Readers who have questions or concerns about the News’ reporting can e-mail editor@yaledailynews.com or call 203-432-2418.