Senior Kaveh Danesh will become the newest member of the Board of Trustees as a result of Friday’s student-wide election, beating fellow seniors Olly Wilson and Michael Mandl for the position of Young Trustee.
With 3,048 undergraduate votes cast, the winner was determined by an instant runoff between Danesh and Wilson. Danesh received 1,623 votes, and Wilson received 1,376.
“I’m just really honored and humbled to be elected,” Danesh said. “I’m thankful to have run against such impressive candidates.”
Danesh, Duke Student Government vice president for academic affairs, serves on the First-Year Advisory Council Board and is also a line monitor at basketball games. He hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the Board of Trustees.
“I hope to take all the different experiences I’ve had here as a Duke student and try to really vicariously understand the different ways that students experience campus and translate them to the Board,” Danesh said.
The campaign between the three candidates was conducted properly and fairly, with no violations or complaints throughout the election, noted DSG Attorney General James Lee, a senior. Lee is currently the online managing editor for The Chronicle.
Lee added that the turnout of about 3,000 was standard for an undergraduate election.
As a Young Trustee, Danesh will serve a three-year term on the Board—one year as a nonvoting member and two as a voting member—and represent the interests of the undergraduate student body.
“Kaveh will be an absolutely fantastic Young Trustee and an amazing asset to the Board,” Wilson said.
Also on the ballot were seven amendments to the DSG Constitution that serve to state the number of senators in the Senate, change the role of the Senate president pro-tempore and remove the specific names of standing committees. These amendments are designed to limit future necessity for rule changes, to help the Senate keep up with evolving student interests and administrative structure and to facilitate DSG’s responsiveness to undergraduate concerns, according to the amendment document.
The referendum passed with 1,408 yes votes, 132 no votes and 1,484 abstentions.
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