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Ross, Miller, West win Student Council races

Ross, West take uncontested elections, say they still sought student body approval

The University Board of Elections released the election results for next year’s Student Council President, Vice-President for Organization and Vice-President of Administration Friday evening in Jefferson Hall.

Third-year Engineering student Jalen Ross and second-year College student Kyle West won uncontested races for President and VPO, respectively. Third-year College student Sky Miller took the contested VPA race.

West said he went and sought endorsements for the position to counter any concerns students had about his unopposed race. He and Ross received the Cavalier Daily’s endorsement last week.

“Many people I talked to felt comfortable with me in this position,” West said.

Ross said he aims to remain accountable to the student body.

“It is my mission in my term in office to show students that I wasn’t just the only choice, I was the best choice,” he said.

Ross said students had several misunderstandings about Student Council and what resources Council can contribute to help their groups succeed.

“Students have a lot of issues, but they don’t currently bring them to us,” he said.

To establish a better connection, Ross hopes to create an ambassadors program for Council members to evaluate and contribute to events hosted by student contracted independent organizations.

“We want to send ambassadors to every event, to encourage ongoing relationships with every corner of the University,” he said.

As VPO, West said he hopes to increase for more consistency and to improve communication with CIOs. Council is responsible for appropriating much of the Student Activities Fee students pay each year.

“We should give CIOs more knowledge about how to request money and fill out budget forms, so they have more people to contact and their questions can be more quickly answered,” he said.

West also hopes to make contact between Council and CIOs less onerous.

“I plan on subdividing up the Appropriations Committee, and have them divided by type, and then add a contact that’s in charge of each subdivision,” he said.

Miller declined to comment, despite several attempts to contact him via email.

All three leaders serve in the University Guide Service together, and have worked with each other on various occasions in Council.

“Already know[ing] each other’s characteristics will help with the transition from this year’s administration, so we can feed off each other next year,” West said.

Ross said he is now part of a very strong team that has the “passion and organization” needed to be effective.

According to the University Board of Elections, 5,631 students voted in the spring 2014 elections, just 25 percent of the student body.

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