College Dems Elected To Statewide Positions

For the fourth consecutive year, a Harvard student was elected to head the College Democrats of Massachusetts (CDM) at its state-wide convention, held on Sunday.

Kara A. Shamy ’03 will carry on Harvard’s tradition of leadership at the state organization, replacing Marcie B. Bianco ’02 as president of the CDM.

Additionally, Richard G. “Gerard” McGeary ’04 was elected as member-at-large.

Shamy, who ran on a platform with the president of the University of Massachusetts Democrats, will assume the top spot on the board after a year as treasurer of the CDM and serving as vice president of the Harvard College Democrats (HCD) this year.

In Shamy’s platform, she outlined her goals for the year.

“[Our mission is] to increase the credibility, efficacy, and legitimacy of the CDM organization by increasing interaction among chapters, effective communication between chapter leadership and the executive board, and the number of successful projects sponsored by the organization,” she wrote.

McGeary, who is HCD’s campus outreach director, will be performing much the same function in his new position, particularly helping to increase the number of the CDM chapters across the state.

“One of my main goals is to increase the amount of diversity in individual chapters,” he said. “Currently, the members of chapters are not as racially diverse as the Democratic party—or in their viewpoints.”

Current HCD President Sonia H. Kastner ’03 said that Shamy and McGeary will serve the CDM well, because of their excellent work here on campus.

“From working with them on the board this year, I know that they are extremely competent, creative and hard-working,” Kastner said.

Similarly, Bianco said she was happy to turn over the reins to another Harvard student.

“They are energetic and motivated about Democratic politics,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Both have substantial experience to assist them in their new duties.”

According to Kastner, leadership from the Harvard chapter should especially benefit the CDM.

“The Harvard chapter is by far the strongest program in the state, maybe even the country” said Kastner, “[Shamy and McGeary] can work to make the other chapters in Massachusetts just as strong.”

McGeary also sees the coming year as an opportunity to bring the HCD’s strengths to other campuses.

“There’s not the same sense of community among the chapters as there is within Harvard,” he said. “We need to increase the unity of Massachusetts democrats as a whole.”

With the first board meeting next weekend, McGeary said he look forward to laying out a detailed plan of action for mobilizing the CDM.