Mike Sherr
Staff Writer
On April 15, students voted using Qualtrics to choose who will represent them in Student Government (SG) in the 2021-22 academic year. Leading up to the election, students spent a week campaigning and SG held two debates for the College community to engage in the process.
At 8 a.m. on April 8, the week dedicated to campaigning started with a wave of Instagram posts and direct messages. Snapchat and Instagram stories were soon full of images and fliers promoting student candidates. With the virtual nature of the spring semester, students have had to find different ways to attract voters.
Ryan Lin, a freshman political science major who ran for sophomore class council president, posted vlog-type videos onto his campaign’s Instagram page. Lin also combined forces with four other students who together created a ticket that covers all of the sophomore class council positions.
Justin Drayton, a freshman political science major who also ran for sophomore class council, posted a flier on Instagram with a picture of himself wearing a pumpkin costume, to differentiate himself from other campaigns and entice students to vote for him.
Many other students allowed members of the community to ask them questions through the Instagram story response function and responded to them directly. Nicollette Simons, the alternate student trustee, reported in the weekly general body meeting that campaigning has mostly been positive and professional.
For the cabinet positions that had serious competition, Simons held two debates for the community to attend and understand the candidates.
The first debate held on April 12 was between the candidates for vice president for student services, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and vice president for campus and community relations.
Hafsah Shaik, a sophomore psychology major who ran for vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, commented that she hopes to create microaggression and anti-bias training for professors. “It needs to be more widespread,” Shaik said during the debate. “It also works the other way; students can be biased against professors of color and professors who are immigrants.” Shaik hopes to integrate this training into the curriculum since holding events may not reach the people who need it most.
Santiago Salinas, a sophomore public health major who ran for the same position, focused on how he will work with other student organizations including Best Buddy and the Bonner Institute to “expand their vision and goal of addressing diversity through my position.”
During the second debate on April 13, students heard from those who ran for executive president, executive vice president and vice president for governmental affairs.
Roshni Raji, a junior international relations major who ran for the executive president position, used this time to comment on stigma around SG. “I think SG sometimes tends to be disengaged from the student body, so my priority would be to empower and amplify student voices in everything we do.”
The other candidate for executive president, Cristhofer Moreira, a junior public health and communication studies major, gave a similar sentiment saying “students are one of the biggest stakeholders the College has, and I aim to provide students with a comprehensive understanding on how SG implements inclusive practices for leaders.”
Voting started at 8 a.m. and students that ended the night with a victory will be sworn in at the General Body meeting on April 28.
The results of the election can be seen below.
Cabinet
Executive President: Roshni Raji
Executive Vice President: Dylan Chidick
Vice President for Academic Affairs: Alekhya Madiraju
Vice President for Administration and Finance: Antigone Antonakakis
Vice President for Advancement: Alisha Srivastava
Vice President for Campus and Community: Ankita Patil
Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Hafash Shaik
Vice President for Governmental Affairs: Samhita Narendrula
Vice President for Student Services: Aamore Richards
Alternate Student Trustee: Nigel Pacheco
Senior Class Council
President: Harish Rajagopal
Vice President of Operations: Mahjustice Murphy
Vice President of Public Relations: Eugene Kim
Secretary: Muskanjot (Muskan) Kaur
Treasurer: Stella Shong
Junior Class Council
President: Michael Paolella
Vice President of Operations: Mariama Sillah
Vice President of Public Relations: Amanda Sangalli
Secretary: Janelyn Rodriguez
Treasurer: Christell Noel
Sophomore Class Council
President: Justin Drayton
Vice President of Operations: Jaison Hiltner
Vice President of Public Relations: Isabella Liguori
Secretary: Noelle Halikman
Treasurer: Abigail Duff
Senator of Arts & Communication
Peter Corso
Alexa Giacoio
Kelly Tucker
Senator of Business
Ebuka Egwuonwu
Alea Ferrigno
Felix Lopez
Matthew Mancuso
Sherley Nunez
Ananya Samanthula
Kaleb Yuen
Senators of Education
Alyssa Caruso
Katherine De Oliveira
Benjamin Rogoff
Hailey Weinstein
Senator of Engineering
Samuel Akinlolu
Deana Lucas
Grace Palahnuk
Taniya Sood
Senator of Humanities and Social Science
Matthew Cort
Jan Egan
Kiara Fernandez
Samreen Khateeb
Elika Mohebbi
Samridhi Sawhney
Yuliia Sul
Senator of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science
Christina Rubulotta
Vanshi Shah
Senator of Science
Lana Abdelmohsen
Robert King
Zion Lee
Yashvi Verma
