The results of the 2016 SGA presidential election were approved by the Senate elections committee this week. Matthew Hunt and Jessica Smith won by a margin of 115 votes, claiming the presidency and vice presidency respectively for the next year. This election marks the first-ever SGA president to serve two consecutive terms in office. 671 students voted, or 22% of the undergraduate student body. Over the next month, Hunt and Smith will be choosing the other proposed members of their Cabinet, who need to be approved by the Senate before they can take office. As of this writing, Hunt is expected to choose Jacob Vanderbilt for the position of Treasurer, but has yet to decide on who to choose for his Secretary and the Chairman on the Committee of Student Interests (CCSI).
The voter turnout for this election is significantly lower than previous years. The 2013 election, which is the most recent presidential election with more than one candidate, experienced a voter turnout of more than 30%, with 830 students voting. The year before that, 1,080 students voted, accounting for 45% of the student body. Hunt said that while he is proud that so many students voted after two years of unopposed elections, there is a “political apathy that’s been developing over the past couple of years,” and that “one of our goals for the next year is increased voter population.” Hunt will be working closely with Julia Defilippis, the chair of the Senate standing committee on public relations, to increase voter turnout for future elections.
Hunt also elaborated on a number of other goals he has for his second year on the SGA Cabinet. This year Matt wants to work on “commanding the respect and the cooperation of the administration.” Matt has been forging relations with key administrative staff and wants to parlay them into relationships with the SGA itself.” Farvardin has a new initiative for departments to seek student input … and Dean Nilsen has facilitated that and told them to use the SGA.”
Hunt and Smith also have visions for how to use their cabinet to transform the Senate and SGA processes. Smith, whose role as vice president entails the oversight of Senate committees, plans to define mission statements for each committee. As Hunt described it, “[We want to] develop what we are as a committee, what we want to be, and how do we get there.” Smith will be sitting with each committee next year in order to answer these questions and improve the effectiveness of the Senate as a whole.
For the treasury, Hunt sees Vanderbilt as a “policy-oriented person [who] runs things by the books,” and is hoping to have him continue current SGA Treasurer Patrick MacLane’s work of codifying the guidelines and budgeting processes for RSOs. Hunt’s goal is to make budgeting more repeatable and formalized, so it will be consistent across years.
While a secretary has not yet been selected, Hunt hopes to have his secretary work with Angelo Shambilides, the current speaker of the Senate, to improve the efficiency of the Senate. Hunt said, “we are still at a point now where the Sunday [Senate] meetings are not what they could be.” Specifically, Hunt wants to focus on providing more value in the documentation the Senate produces, which is something that Shambilides and the future secretary will work on.
Finally, for the CCSI, Hunt is “looking for someone who can step back, and not see the CCSI [position] as it has been in the past, but what it could be.” As the leader of the RSO sub-committee heads and representatives, Hunt is looking into how to utilize that, and how to formalize RSO procedures. A big goal will be formalizing the expectations of sub-committee heads and representatives, including possible requirements of attendance at RSO general body meetings or executive board meetings.
Hunt and Smith will take office at 12 p.m. on January 19, the first day of classes in the spring semester, as prescribed by the SGA Constitution.
