Tim Tai

On Thursday, April 10 at 9 a.m., polls will open and voting for next year’s Yale College Council senators and officers will commence.

The election timeline, however, begins as early as this Wednesday, March 26 with the Council’s Mandatory senate and officer candidate information session in WLH 119 or over Zoom. During the information session, prospective candidates will learn the in and outs of the YCC’s rule-heavy election process.

The candidate planning period begins the day after the information session. During this period, candidates can create a group of advisors to assist in creating their campaign vision. The campaigning process lasts for approximately two and a half weeks.

Each year, the Council Election Commission is chaired by the sitting YCC vice president. Vice President Esha Garg ’26 will chair this year’s spring election, as she did this past fall.

“During the planning period, you try to come up with a vision,” Garg said. “Second, during pre-campaigning, you see the most liked parts of that vision based off of other people on this campus. During public campaigning, the third part, you make people buy into it, telling them that ‘This is what I wanna do,’ and showing people that they can trust you to do it.”

According to the rules laid out by the commission, a student interested in running for office may run for two elected positions but cannot serve in both offices at the same time. 

In a newsletter sent on Monday, the Council says that in this year’s elections, they will be starting from “ground zero” and each senate seat is open for election. Each residential college elects two senators that are responsible for the Yale College Council’s policy making to enact change on campus. They work on issues pertaining academics, health and accessibility, financial aid, cultural and religious life, dining and sustainability. 

Several officer seats are open as well, including president, vice president, events director, Sophomore Class Council president and Junior Class Council president.

The YCC president is responsible for overseeing and leading the entire Council. The vice president works in tandem with the president to run the YCC, assist with elections and oversee the policy branch. The Events Director helps plan events on Yale’s campus and oversees each class council. Class Council Presidents represent the interests of their class and help plan class social events.

In order to be eligible to run for an officer position, one must be enrolled at Yale and “free of disciplinary action by a university disciplinary body.” 

Each candidate is allotted $50 to spend on their campaign to assist in online and physical promotion. The commission suggests candidates maintain receipts to show proof of purchase in the case of overspending and monetary misuse. Items not purchased by a candidate, but rather given or loaned, will still be counted toward the $50 spending limit.

“I really think that the $50 is more than enough to cover a campaign,” Garg said. “I don’t think anybody should be spending more than that because at that point, the election is inaccessible. We want to make sure that any student who wants to run can run.”

Also prohibited by the commission, in accordance with Yale College, are campaign posters that exceed 8.5 by 11 inches, mass emails to more than 10 recipients at a time and creating new GroupMe chatrooms to promote a candidate.

According to the Spring 2025 senator election guidelines, anyone that notices or suspects a candidate of breaking any of the election rules is encouraged to contact Garg and the YCC for disciplinary action.

When asked about the frequency of disciplinary action taken last year, Garg said that the YCC must maintain confidentiality but that “it really wasn’t a major amount.”

Garg did state, though, that when an election violation allegation is made to the commission, she responds to the person who created it and forwards it to the at-large members who are responsible for discussing consequences.

Council President Mimi Papathanasopoulos ’26 said that the spring election season allows Yale students to show solidarity with one another and to think about the future of student life on campus.

“The YCC election season is a valuable opportunity for our community to come together, reflect on shared priorities and engage in meaningful conversations about issues that matter,” Papathanasopoulos wrote to the News.

Speaker of the House Emily Hettinger ’26 who ran her own successful senate campaign hopes that students ever so slightly unsure about running should run anyways for experience and for a change to get to know Yale’s diverse populus.

“Being a part of the YCC has been a very meaningful experience for me and I think that anyone who is even remotely interested in joining should get involved in any way they would like,” Hettinger wrote to the News. “I  encourage future leaders in the YCC to show up ready to collaborate, think creatively, and work very closely with members of the student body.”

Having also run her own successful officer campaign just last year, Garg believes that the Yale College Council elections can be “fun” and a good way to connect with the student body. 

She believes that what will make for a good candidate in this election is someone who prioritizes outreach and impact.

“I think the best strategy is reaching out to students, listening to them and then using what you’ve heard to come up with solutions that will better the lives of students on campus,” she said.

Garg hopes that in this particular election, more students engage with those who are running and “really question their platforms.” With around a third of students making up voter turnout, Garg encouraged students to attend the YCC’s annual debate sponsored by the News to engage with future student leaders and representatives.

The YCC x YDN Debate for officer candidates will be held in LC 102 and over Zoom on Sunday, April 6 at 8 p.m.