Senators for the classes of 2017, 2018 and 2019 as well as two judiciary council members were elected on April 26. The election was preceded by a night of speeches in Merrill 1 on April 21, where the candidates presented their platforms.

The classes of 2018 and 2017 only elected six representatives to the possible eight senate seats. To fill the vacant seats, the AAS will hold elections again in September.

The AAS senators are Cornell Brooks, Renai Foster, Yannis Kalogiannis, Jesse Levitin, Kaelan McCone, Maeve McNamara, Jacob Silverman and William Zaubler for the class of 2019; Areej Hasan, Tasha Kim, Olivia Mastrangelo, Alejandro Nino, Mohamed Ramy and Syed Abbas Shah for the class of 2018; and Paul Gramieri, Cosette Lias, Sidney Lin, Pierre-Alexander Low, Raymond Meijer and Jeremy Paula for the class of 2017. Adelyn Curran ’17 and Jacob Zeigler ’18 were elected as Judiciary Council members by write-in votes.

Senator Paul Gramieri ’17, who served as the treasurer in the previous term, said in an email interview that the AAS could improve election policies by publicizing elections more, eliminating the requirement for the 25-signature petition and allowing more time between candidate statements, speeches and elections.

“Since we don’t have enough senators in each class, I personally don’t believe then that students should complain about the AAS,” Gramieri said. “If students have any issues with what we do, then they have an open opportunity to join the AAS and change from within.”

Despite lack of interest in the AAS demonstrated by the classes of 2018 and 2017, many senators are optimistic about the upcoming academic year.

“All the senators ... want to make Amherst better, all in different ways,” Foster, a newly elected senator, said. She looks forward to “making Senate seem less of a distant group when it comes to different groups and issues on campus.”