He has chaired both the academic and services committees, and spear-headed wide-ranging reform of the calendar. He is an institutional man, faithful and reliable, but with little flash.
"I think Steve Kalkanis is a great candidate," said staunch Kalkanis supporter, David L. Duncan '93, who lost in the fall chair elections to Heinicke. "I think he is not only a hard worker, [but] he is [also] a perfectly respectable and trustworthy steward of the Undergraduate Council."
Kalkanis is a second-semester senior. Most chair candidates in the past have been juniors. The last second-semester senior who served as chair was Ken Lee '89, and several members expressed concern over a senior chair's ability to commit time to the council and ensure the continuity of the council between the spring and the fall.
Kalkanis and Reyes, who is also a senior, both said that they will be taking lighter courseloads than usual and will be able to devote their full attention to the council.
Kalkanis' agenda is typified by student-faculty committees and longer intersessions.
Beys pursues the bells and whistles: the concerts and the parties and high-profile efforts that have made his reputation and landed him in hot water.
In the last three elections, the Beys-Heinicke faction has won out. Aronberg best Kalkanis in fall 1992. Beys staved off Rhew's efforts to impeach him last spring. And with the departure of a large part of the Kalkanis-Rauch-Rhew faction last year, Heinicke won the fall election handily over Duncan.
But Kalkanis is a fighter. With the experience of a former campaign under his belt and a semester as vice chair healing the council's wounds from the Prabhu scandal, he is a formidable candidate.
Kalkanis said he has a definite edge over the other candidates. "I have very clear goals, but I also have the experience and plan to attain those goals."
By all accounts, Reyes is a dark horse candidate. Reyes has worked on the finance committee for four years. He has also served as the council's parliamentarian and chair of the finance committee.
As chair, Reyes said he can help motivate the council and work to improve student life.
"It should not be a council for the council, but a council for the students," said Reyes.
Apart from all the rhetoric and the factional battle-lines, however, the deciding votes will probably lie with the first-years on the council.
First-years interviewed yesterday said they may decide on Sunday's chair race on the basis of candidates' position papers and speeches.
Allison Weinberg '96 said that all the candidates appear equally active and responsible on the council, and that "its much harder for the freshmen to know them" to form other opinions regarding the candidates' characters.
Ultimately, it may be up to first-years like Weinberg to break a possible factional stalemate in Sunday's elections