On Wednesday, March 26th, the rising freshmen, sophomores, and juniors voted for their class representatives in the Judicial Committee.
The fourth and fifth form candidates gave speeches in the Chapel and PMAC, respectively. Nine qualified fourth formers and eleven fifth formers ran in hopes of representing their classes in the Judicial Committee (JC).
Mr. McCatty, faculty advisor of the JC, referred to the judicial committee as a group of “people who really live by the rules and not really just pretend to. They are people who don’t have to think twice about what it means to uphold honor.”
“One of the fundamental tenets of the JC is its place in loco parentis; the JC serves in lieu of a student’s parents to help instruct those who have made mistakes, with students helping their peers correct their ways. The JC therefore views hearings in the lens of a parent, understanding that the ultimate endgame of a hearing is to help mold a student into a stronger, better person,” said Adi Rajagopalan ’09, one of the four rising seniors elected to the JC.
The junior class reelected Stephanie Choi ’09 and Paul Gaffney ’09 to the JC. In addition current juniors voted Nolan Stewart ’09 and Aditya Rajagopalan ’09 to join their previous representatives.
“I’m very pleased with the representatives who were elected. Adi Rajagopalan was reelected. He has been on it in the past; he’s very experienced,” said Mr. McCatty.
Elector David Woo ’09 said, “The experience and moving speeches given by some of the candidates led me to vote for them.”
“The rising senior representatives are leaders, and that’s why I am very pleased with them,” exclaimed Mr. McCatty. As seniors, the Class of 2009 will consist of Judicial Committee representatives who hold highly influential positions on campus. All of the elected members to the JC will elect two of the four rising seniors as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the JC.
The fourth formers reelected current JC representatives Geoff Van ’10 and Pooja Pendri ’10. Pendri and Van’s extra year of experience in the Judicial Committee appealed to the fourth form, as they vowed to continue tackling challenging cases with integrity and care.
“I think a JC member has to be a trustworthy individual who can serve as a role model and uphold the honor code. They should be level headed, but at the same time opinionated and ready to speak up. And of course, they should be fair,” said Pendri.
When referring to the two reelected sophomore Judicial Committee representatives, Mr. McCatty said, “They are very experienced and trustworthy candidates.”
Alexandra Knights ’10, who ran for the Judicial Committee this year, stated, “I believe that a JC member need not be perfect, and I believe flaws are necessary in a candidate. As a JC representative, one has to have leadership and integrity, and it’s necessary to uphold school rules.”
According to Julienne Knowles ’10, who also ran alongside Van and Pendri, the ideal judicial committee member is someone who “can relate to his or her peers a lot, and should definitely know a good percentage of his or her form. He should be able to relate to the student body. A good JC representative should be someone human, realistic and amiable.”
Many students have said that the elected Judicial Committee members possess those traits. “I think Geoff and Pooja are fit to represent our form and our school. They have experience, and their speeches stayed very fresh in the minds of the audience,” said Caleb Johnson ’10.
Some candidates had difficulty pertaining to the new 2-minute speech limit for under formers and the 90 second limit for juniors. The majority of the fourth form candidates, including Knowles, Knights, Van and Pendri, viewed this time limit as rather restricting.
“I thought the two minute time limit was a little bit unfair, but if it is over two minutes, you do lose people’s attention in the audience. And it isn’t right to pull somebody off the stage if they pass a certain time,” exclaimed Alexandra Knights ’10.
Julienne Knowles said, “The two minute limit wasn’t enough. It did make sense because of the shortness of the meeting period, but it gave the candidates one more thing to worry about. It was an unnecessary burden.”
The third form voted for Vicky Luh ’11 and George Ramirez ’11 for the JC. Because of the large number of candidates running, the elections for girls were held on Wednesday while the elections for boys were on Thursday.
After hearing the freshmen JC winners, Karly Crouse ’11 reflected, “They deserve it!”
