The Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council decided experience trumped age Tuesday when the Student Council elected Tyler Junger to lead the student government as chair for its 16th session.

While representative and opponent Brian Benford, 49, insisted he could quickly learn the workings of the bylaws, adding 30 years of life experience should outweigh Junger’s experience on the student government, 16 of the 30 members agreed leadership experience within the council was necessary to be an effective chair.

“You can sit and read the bylaws, but issues come up that aren’t in the bylaws,” representative Matthew Manes said. “Issues come up … and Tyler dealt with them. … It’s a working knowledge that only comes with being involved in the administration so it may be fine to say I have visions for the future, and they both seem to have similar visions, but what’s differing is the ability to show those changes and that is where I feel Tyler would be better than Brian.”

Several small changes unbalanced the split vote that prevented leadership from being elected in Friday’s meeting.

According to Junger, representatives Rebecca Newman, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field and Katrina Flores were absent at the Friday’s meeting. While Wrigley-Field and Flores voted in favor of Benford, Newman voiced support for Junger.

The debate was ultimately ended when representatives T.J. Madsen and Grant Smith switched their votes from Friday in favor of Junger.

“I considered both of them and switched my vote because I thought there was a learning curve, and so even though representative Benford might have done a great job over the course of his term, representative Junger would most certainly be more effective at the start of his term,” Smith said.

Smith said his vote was also encouraged by e-mails he received from several constituents urging him to vote in favor of Junger. Smith added personal conversations with both candidates also swayed his vote.

“I felt representative Junger was more motivated,” Smith said.

The Student Council also voted in favor of representative Tom Templeton to serve as the Student Council’s vice chair in the coming year. The election was solidified by a 14 to 11 vote with two abstaining.

Representative Kurt Gosselin was also elected secretary, though he ran unopposed.

The newly elected members took office immediately and will serve as leaders to the ASM Student Council throughout the 2009-10 academic year.

Junger said he is happy about the newly elected leadership and looks forward to the next semester.

“I think no matter who would have ended up on leadership we would get to a point this year where we are working for students,” Junger said. “I think the people representing all have that in mind, and it’s going to be a good year for ASM.”