The Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SRSGA) has a new executive board and senate after Thursday’s announcement following the week-long election cycle.
Current Vice President of Internal Affairs, Nicole Dunlop, was elected to the position of president for the 2019-20 academic year. Dunlop is joined by fellow executive board members Khalil Harper (VP of Academic and Student Affairs), Kaitlyn Hazelett (VP of Finance), Mia Graziani (VP of Internal Affairs), Kemoni Farmer (VP of Campus Outreach) and Margaret Calvert (VP of Diversity and Inclusion).
Senator Calvert ran a successful write-in campaign to fill the vacant position of VP of diversity and inclusion after the presumptive nominee, Donovan Ford, declined to run despite accruing the necessary number of signatures.
According to exit-polling statistics provided by Lauren Moran, director of student engagement and leadership, a total of 739 students voted in this year’s SRSGA election. This figure marks a 38% increase from last year’s total, 534 votes.
“We were really pleased with this year’s voter turnout, especially considering that there was only one ticket,” Moran said. “This was a marked improvement and a credit to our outreach for getting the word out about elections. Of course we’d like to see more participation, but this was a positive step forward for SGA.”
Of the 739 voters, 701 were undergraduate students, while the remaining 38 represented SRU’s students attending graduate school. Moran also reported that 185 individuals received at least one write-in vote, and that several candidates like Calvert were elected via write-in ballots.
As it currently stands, nine senate positions remain open heading into fall 2019. Four of those positions will be filled in the fall by incoming freshman, leaving three commuter senator and two building (Building B and Building E) senator positions vacant. Moran said that it is possible that the positions for the commuter senators will be filled before the end of the semester, as each candidate that was elected on Thursday must first accept their position in senate.
“We had six individuals tied with write-in votes for the remaining three commuter senator seats,” Moran said. “If a few commuters choose not to accept their position, those who were tied would be next in line to fill in and represent commuters within senate.”
Excluding the executive board, the 2019-20 SRSGA senate will be composed of:
- Building A: Madison Cox
- Building B: Vacant
- Watson Hall: Joseph Sciuto
- Building D: Kathy Bash
- Building E: Vacant
- Building F: Brett Lejeune
- North Hall: Chloe Hoehn
- Rhoads Hall: Leif Lindgren
- R.O.C.K. Apartments: Nathan Endres
- Graduate Senator: Matthew Lerman
- Graduate Senator: Riley Keffer
- Commuter: Breeane Latsko
- Commuter: Samantha Kochis
- Commuter: Cale Walker
- Commuter: Joshua Hilzendeger
- Commuter: Dillon Pusateri
- Commuter: Nicholas Condon
- Commuter: Patrick Noonan
- Commuter: Samantha Burkhouse
- Commuter: Taylor Cochran
- Commuter: Logan Tupper
- Commuter: Jordyn Holley
- Commuter: Piper Jones
