After a close race that played out through Facebook pages, sidewalk chalk discussions with the student body, Darrick “Nighthawk” Evensen, grad, was voted the new student-elected member of the Cornell Board of Trustees following last week’s election.After a close race that played out through Facebook pages, sidewalk chalk discussions with the student body, Darrick “Nighthawk” Evensen, grad, was voted the new student-elected member of the Cornell Board of Trustees follwing last week’s election.

Evensen, a Ph.D. student in natural resources whose memorable nickname resulted from his hobby of sitting in trees in the dark in order to “observe nature with senses other than sight,” narrowly beat Christoffer Heckman grad. Evensen won by a narrow margin of 186 votes, with 16-percent of the student population participating.

Both Evensen and Heckman expressed satisfaction at the relatively high number of students who participated in the election.

“I’m extremely pleased with the voter turnout,” Heckman said.

“[The election] was pretty well attended,” Evensen agreed, though he cited the rather “embarrassing” fact that usually fewer than 16 percent of Cornell students vote in the election.

The relatively high turnout also benefited another item on the ballot: a referendum which would allow changes to the University Assembly’s charter without a public vote on the referendum. The 16-percent turnout came much closer to the 20-percent student turnout required for the referendum than many expected, so voting on this issue has been extended in hopes that still more students will vote and allow the referendum to take effect.

Looking forward to his new post, Evensen — the former president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly — characterized his new role on the board as “making sure the student voice is heard.”

Though there are only two student trustees, he said has been assured by the outgoing student members that “the board really does listen to the students.”

He emphasized that he will seek to make all student views known, from Greek issues to minority students’ groups.

“I have an opportunity to let the board know what the students think … not just the grad students,” he said, adding that he will soon be setting up a blog and holding office hours to facilitate communication with students.

Discussing the work ahead of him, Evensen emphasized that the Board of Trustees deals with “broad policy” rather than “day-to-day” topics like the bridge fences, an issue which he said many students presented to him as a concern.

He described the University’s Strategic Plan as the most important issue before the board, as it will shape the “priorities of the University.”  Evensen said that “prioritization of implementation” was a focus of his campaign, and that he intends to urge support for arts and the humanities during his two-year term.

“We need to make sure [such programs] are strong,” he said.

Evensen was also quick to applaud his opponent for running an excellent campaign.

“He did a good job mobilizing,” Evensen said, explaining that much of his own campaign was focused on responding to and topping the actions of Heckman’s campaign, from talking to more potential voters to making more and flashier sidewalk-chalk slogans — ensuring that anyone walking home from class who happened to glance at the ground would be urged to “Vote Nighthawk.”

Heckman described running for the position as a positive experience, and said he looks forward to continuing his involvement in campus government.

“Campaigning has been a great experience, and my friends and colleagues were all very supportive of me, which was highly encouraging … I look forward to returning to my doctoral research and staying involved in campus governance,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Evensen's first name, Darrick. The article has been changed to reflect this change.