Lassiter snags co-presidency of Campus Y

In an unexpected runoff election, Stephen Lassiter emerged as the winner of the Campus Y’s male co-president post Tuesday night.

Lassiter will share the presidency with Kamal Menghrajani, who won the female position last week. Lassiter defeated Mark Laabs, with whom he tied for the position during last week’s election.

Campus Y officials declined to release the vote totals for Tuesday’s runoff.

The new leadership will take effect March 21.

The turnover of power comes at a crucial juncture for the organization, which its leaders said suffers from a lack of cohesion.

Elizabeth Sonntag, current president of Campus Y, said it will benefit from the connections Lassiter has forged with other groups.

But she also is concerned about the lack of unity within the organization.

“It was my pipe dream that members of the Campus Y would feel like they were all part of one organization,” Sonntag said.

That dream might be realized sooner than expected, as Lassiter also cited unity as the top need for the organization.

“It’s something that we’ve made progress with, but we still have a long way to go to unite 16 committees into one organization,” Lassiter said.

Lassiter headed Campus Y’s Students for the Advancement of Race Relations committee before running for office.

He said he was planning to remain in the position, but friends within the organization encouraged him to run.

Lassiter’s platform points include unifying the organization, streamlining it with a master calendar and reaching out to other organizations. His platform also includes plans to publicize the group through the Student Union, The Daily Tar Heel and campus computer systems.

He also intends to use ideas from the platforms of other candidates.

Menghrajani said she is ready to get to work with her new co-president. At the top of her to-do list are making sure that clear communication takes place between the outgoing and incoming leadership and establishing next year’s committee leaders.

“Right now we’re focused on getting people on board,” she said.

She said the organization has experienced duplication problems in the past when new leaders take office and are unaware of what the outgoing leaders accomplished.

Laabs said that he intends to continue working with the Campus Y but that he also wants to explore other groups. “I plan to look at opportunities inside and outside the Y and to see how I can best serve the University.”

 

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