"PUCC seemed very worrisome to me," Nelson said. "I'm wary of student government becoming politicized. That worried me a lot when I ran, and I hope to help prevent it from becoming that way."

Overall, new members are looking forward to getting involved and having some say in the process.

"I felt like as a first-year, I hadn't been doing much and I wanted to find more ways to get involved," said Mark A. Price '98, a new representative from Pforzheimer House. "I didn't know much about the U.C., but I figured the best way to find out was to get involved in it."

"The U.C. has a lot of power money-wise, and I wanted to have some control over how my money was spent," he added.

Nienke C. Grossman '99, a new representative from the Southeast Yard, said she thought a new perception of the council would help it accomplish a number of student affairs goals, such as reform of the core curriculum.

"I heard a lot of bad things about the U.C. before I came here," Grossman said. "But I think we as a class are not-that negative. People have been very supportive.