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May 14, 2004

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Regime Change at Hunter College

James Trimarco

Some students at the Graduate Center will be surprised how politicized Hunter College student elections can be—not only are the elections fiercely contested, but students run as members of political parties. The most recent elections, with polls open from April 26 to 29, saw a massive overturn in political power that can only be described as “regime change.” SLAM, an activist group that has dominated Hunter College student government for eight years, was defeated by a newly formed party called Hunter United. Candidates associated with Hunter United won every student government position out of about 30 that were up for election. The large margins by which these positions were won increased the level of political drama even further. Eija Ayravainen, Vice President for Student affairs and Dean of Students at Hunter, says that “It was the largest turnout in over 15 years, 40% higher than last year and 150% higher than the average of the last four years.”

SLAM is known throughout CUNY as a stalwart Leftist group that regularly sends large contingents to demonstrations on topics such as tuition hikes, women’s issues, students’ issues and US-led wars. The group received a CUNY Union award from the PSC in 2003 for its service to the University and also offers services such as free printing and copying for students in its offices.

However, members of the new Hunter United group were dissatisfied with SLAM’s handling of student government. They felt that some of SLAM’s issues—particularly in regard to Israel and Palestine—offended certain ethnic and religious groups within the Hunter student community. They also objected to what they describe as excessive spending on “retreats” for SLAM members of student government and expressed general unhappiness with the way that SLAM handles its financial resources, which Hunter United feels were not distributed evenly among students.

This story includes facts compiled from an article posted to the Interactivist website by Taylor Peck.