Just before Harvard students vacated campus for the holidays, the Chinese Students Association chose its officers for the upcoming term in a "very tense" election, said re-elected co-President Andrew G.W. Chung '99.

Chung and Harrison W. Lin '99 were re-elected after having served since January of last year. But while Chung and Lin ran unopposed, the other races were contested.

The election, conducted Monday, Dec. 15, was dominated by first-years, who won all but the organization's top three positions.

Tony Young '00 is the organization's new vice president. Together with Chung and Lin, he will lead a young but eager new board.

These new leaders will continue to reform and renew the organization, a process Chung and Lin began during their first term.

In an interview with The Crimson, Chung noted that during their tenure, he and Lin have expanded the association from primarily a social and cultural institution into a political group.

"There is clearly a more visible role of Chinese people in American society today," Chung said. "We've wanted to really educate Harvard."

Among the activities the club has planned for the upcoming year are a New Year's Banquet Celebration and a Chinese-American Intercollegiate Conference.

The conference, scheduled to take place Columbus Day weekend, will be the first of its kind. It is designed to provide an opportunity for students to discuss pertinent Chinese-American topics from the involvement of Asian-Americans in the national campaign finance scandal to the recent appointment of Bill Lann Lee as assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Chung and Lin have said they look forward to working with the new board of the club and benefiting from its "contagious energy."

These members include Maggie Y. Loo '01, secretary of the association; Albert M. Hui '01 and Jeremy L. Kwan '01, co-chairs of the business committee; Kristen H. Day '01 and Chanda K. Ho '01, educational and political committee co-chairs; Jessica A. Eng '01 and Wei Zhou '01, cochairs of the public relations committee, and Davin J. Chew '01 and Tzyy Ming Yeh '01, social and cultural committee co-