Twenty students were officially announced as candidates for the 2006-2007 Duke Student Government Executive Board Monday.
Juniors Remington Kendall, Felix Li and Thomas Storrs and sophomores Elliott Wolf and Hasnain Zaidi are running for DSG president.
DSG Attorney General Bryce Walker, a senior, who is the coordinator of the elections, said the pool of presidential candidates is larger than in previous years. Three candidates ran for the position last spring.
"I think it will be a very competitive race," Walker said. "It will give people a lot of choices they didn't have in the past."
Kendall, a DSG senator, is the only candidate who is currently active in the organization. Li is the president emeritus of the Center for Race Relations. Storrs is an active member of the Duke-Durham Watershed Initiative, which works to restore creeks in the area.
Wolf, a Chronicle columnist, serves as chair of the Angier B. Duke Memorial Scholarship's recruitment committee. Zaidi is sophomore class president and a Campus Council at-large representative.
The next DSG president will serve as a link between students, administrators and various groups both on campus and in the local community.
Campaigning for all DSG executive committee positions began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and will continue until the March 30 elections.
The executive vice president position will be held by one of three juniors-Damjan DeNoble, George Fleming or Joe Fore. The winner will preside over weekly DSG meetings and oversee the organization's legislative body.
Fore is currently the DSG vice president of academic affairs, and Fleming is the DSG president pro tempore. DeNoble is the national marketing coordinator for a student-led effort to bring aid to Darfur, Sudan.
Four candidates are running for both vice president of student affairs and vice president of community interaction, making the two races the most hotly contested next to the presidential election.
Juniors Maggie McGannon and Ryan Strasser and sophomores Tina Hoang and Lee Kornfeld are all in the race for vice president of student affairs. The winner will oversee issues involving residential life and event planning.
All four candidates are currently senators on the Student Affairs Committee.
Juniors Daniel Bowes and Jason Gross and freshmen Jordan Giordano and Maya Salwen are running for vice president of community interaction. The winner will enhance relations between Duke and Durham.
Bowes, a Chronicle columnist, is the president of the American Civil Liberties Union at Duke. Salwen is a tutor for Partners for Youth and is active in the Duke Symphony Orchestra. Gross and Giordano are both DSG senators.
The races for the two remaining executive positions will be head-to-head battles. Junior Jimmy Soni, a Chronicle columnist, and sophomore Mark Jelley are running for vice president of academic affairs. In addition, junior David Snider and sophomore David Melton are running for vice president of athletics and campus services.
Soni is the chair of the Honor Council and the chair of the Duke Political Union. Jelley is a DSG senator for academic affairs. The winner will oversee communication between faculty and students and aid cooperation between the Arts and Sciences Council and faculty in the Pratt School of Engineering.
In the past two years, Snider served as a senator on DSG's Athletics and Campus Services Committee. Melton is a justice on the DSG Judiciary.
The winner of the race for vice president of athletics and campus services will deal with issues regarding safety, parking, dining, transportation, facilities and athletics.
DSG President Jesse Longoria, a senior, said he is looking forward to the elections.
"It's an exciting time for any organization when you elect the new leadership," Longoria said. "There are a lot of very good candidates."
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