After several weeks of chalking, handing out quarter cards and waving a flag outside Libe Café, Asa Craig ’11 has been elected as the newest undergraduate student trustee for Cornell, the Office of the Assemblies announced yesterday.

Out of the 3,423 ballots cast for the 10 candidates, Craig was ranked first on 651 of those ballots. Using the Hare-Clark system, the candidate with the least amount of votes is systematically eliminated. The eliminated candidates’ votes are then transferred to other candidates depending on the rankings of voters’ preferences. In the end, Craig defeated Raymond Mensah ’11 with a final count of 1,578 votes.

This year’s undergraduate student trustee elections hold special significance for Cornell. It was 40 years ago that the Takeover of Willard Straight Hall helped elucidate the need for a transparent University. Many credit the Takeover, and a series of tumultuous events that followed, with Cornell allowing four students to serve as voting members on the Board of Trustees.

Four decades later and with two fewer student Trustees seats, 11 Cornellians are vying to continue the tradition of student governance.

The election to fill Kate Duch’s ’09 undergraduate Student Trustee seat will be held next week. Candidates’ statements will be made public next Tuesday and elections will begin online at 8 a.m. that morning and close at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 16.

Under the University’s charter, one undergraduate and one graduate student from Cornell’s Ithaca campus serve on the board of Trustees. As current student trustees, Mike Walsh grad and Duch serve as members of the trustee nominating committee, which oversees the election, so neither will be endorsing a candidate in this election.

A Sun-moderated panel discussion with the candidates will be held today from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Hall’s Art Gallery.