The University Board of Elections announced 2020 student election results Friday evening.
Third-year College student Ellen Yates was elected Student Council president after running unopposed following third-year College student Hunter Wagenaar’s withdrawal from the race Feb. 24. Several positions for Student Council representatives remain open. The schools that are missing representatives will appoint students to fill the positions or hold special elections.
Yates’s ticket was elected in its entirety, including third-year Curry student Darynha Gnep running for vice president for administration and third-year College student Shefalika Prasad running for vice president for organizations. Gnep was the only candidate that ran opposed, winning the election over second-year College student Ilyas Saltani by a margin of 1,520 to 1,033 votes.
Prasad’s opponent, third-year Architecture student Veronica Merril, dropped out following Wagenaar’s exit from the presidential race.
Voter turnout for the Student Council presidential election was 10.03 percent which is a decrease from last year, when 12.6 percent of the student body voted.
Results for Class and School Councils, Honor Committee, University Judiciary Committee and proposed referenda were also released.
Student Council Representatives
Many positions for Student Council representatives remained vacant due to nobody running for the position. Vacancies exist for the Student Council School of Architecture Representative, the Graduate Batten Representative, the Graduate Commerce Representative, the Undergraduate and Graduate Continuing and Professional Studies Representatives, the Undergraduate and Graduate Education Representatives, the Undergraduate and Graduate Engineering and Applied Sciences Representatives, the Medicine Representative and the Graduate Nursing Representative.
According to Student Council’s bylaws, the chair of the representative body is tasked with notifying the governing Council of a school when there is a vacancy. In that case, the school can appoint a replacement or schedule a special election to fill the position.
The elected Student Council Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Representatives are second-year student Isabella Liu, second-year student Ryan Alcorn, second-year student Mehdy Elouassi and third-year student Matthew Lord.
Third-year Batten student Quentin Milligan was elected Student Council Undergraduate Batten Representative.
Third-year Commerce student Brett Hoffmann was elected Student Council Undergraduate Commerce Representative.
Second-year Nursing student Joria Lee was elected Student Council Undergraduate Nursing Representative.
Class Councils
Members of the Class Council are tasked with identifying, creating and programming events to serve the classes they are elected to serve.
College students Sophia Liao and Anisa Mohamed were elected Second Year Council president and Second Year Council vice president, respectively.
Third Year Council president went to third-year College student Ryan Alcorn, who defeated third-year College student Emma Sisk, last year's Second Year Council President, by a seven vote margin. Third Year Council vice president went to third-year College student Jayla Hart who ran on a joint ticket with Sisk. Hart defeated Alcorn’s running mate, third-year College student Casey Gottlieb.
For Fourth Year Trustees, third-year Commerce student Jason Anderson was elected president, and vice president went to third-year College student Kristin Myers.
The Honor Committee and University Judiciary Committee
Low voter turnout was matched in elections for Honor Committee and UJC representatives. Only the Batten Graduate School had voter turnout above 30 percent for the elections of their Honor and Judiciary representatives.
For the Batten School, first-year Batten graduate students Monica Marciano and Bridget Rizzo were elected Judiciary and Honor representatives, respectively. Third-year undergraduates Gabby Cox and Ryan Keane were also elected as Batten Judiciary and Honor representatives, respectively.
In the College, third-year College students Zoe Olbrys, Schuyler Guare, Madhav Nair and second-year College students Andrew Chambers and Christian Smith were elected Honor representatives. Smith currently serves as an Honor representative for the 2019-2020 academic year. Second-year College students Lauren Kim, Slade Sinak and Nijat Khanbabayev were elected Judiciary College representatives.
Second-year Engineering student Gustavo Moreira and third-year Engineering student Camille Cooper were elected Judiciary Engineering representatives. Third-year Zainab Aziz was elected Honor Engineering representative.
Third-year Commerce student Hunter Rockley was elected both Honor Commerce representative and Judiciary Commerce representative. Third-year Brett Hoffmann was also elected Judiciary Commerce representative.
Third-year Curry student Isabelle Edwards was elected Honor Curry representative. No candidate ran for Judiciary Curry representative.
Second-year Architecture student Caitlin Kreinheder was elected as the Honor Architecture representative, and second-year Architecture student Jackson Key was elected Judiciary representative.
Second-year Joria Le was elected Nursing Judiciary representative, and third-year Nursing student Jaelen Guerrant was reelected Honor Nursing representative.
Referenda
None of the six proposed referenda pertaining to the University Judiciary Committee and Honor Committee on the ballot passed.
While Honor requires that 10 percent of the eligible voting population vote in favor of a proposed amendment for it to pass and three-fifths of the voters in the referendum vote in favor, the UJC only requires that 10 percent of the voting population vote — not necessarily in favor — on the proposed amendment. None of the proposed amendments met this threshold, so none will be ratified.
“It’s disappointing but I’m not surprised with how this election season has gone,” said Shannon Cason, UJC Chair and fourth-year College student, in an email to The Cavalier Daily.
One of the UJC referendum’s would have expanded the Committee’s representative eligibility to include students that have completed one semester of work rather than three, allowing for second-years to be representatives.
76.88 percent of those who voted on this amendment voted in favor. However, only 8.89 percent of the student body voted on the amendment. Because this proposed amendment did not meet the 10 percent threshold, it will not be ratified.
The other referenda for the UJC proposed an quorum of 80 percent of representatives to vote on constitutional changes, established a means for the Committee to internally pass “trivial” amendments its Constitution, and added the words “gender expression” as a protected class under its sanction enhancement clause — meaning a violation of the University Standards of Conduct motivated by gender expression could now result in expulsion.
90.30 percent, 66.24 percent and 84.55 of voters voted in favor of these amendments, respectively. None of these amendments met the threshold for adoption and will not be ratified.
Lillie Lyon, fourth-year College student and chair of the Honor Committee explained that the Honor Constitution requires 10 percent of the study body voting and a 60 percent vote in favor for the amendment for changes to the Constitution to be ratified.
“While the votes on both the impeachment and popular assembly amendments surpassed the 60 percent threshold, less than 10 percent of the eligible voting population voted at all, much less in favor,” Lyon said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.
The first Honor Committee referendum would have created a new method by which Honor Committee members could be impeached — a committee member could now be removed by a vote of four-fifths of the entire Committee. Committee members were previously only able to be removed if a recall petition was signed by at least ten percent of the students in their academic school.
This amendment appeared on the ballot last year, and although a majority of voters voted in favor of the amendment, less than 10 percent voted, so the amendment was not ratified.
The second Honor-related referendum would have allowed the Honor Committee to convene their Popular Assembly — a discussion open to the student body to facilitate discussion about the Honor system and address community concerns — every year, rather than every other year.
Despite a majority of students voting in favor of the amendment, it did not reach the 10 percent threshold of voter turnout necessary for ratification.
Full results:
Student Council
Student Council President: Ellen Yates
Student Council Vice President for Organizations: Shefalika Prasad
Student Council Vice President for Administration: Darynha Gnep
Student Council School of Architecture Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Representatives: Isabella Liu
Student Council Undergraduate Batten Representative: Quentin Milligan
Student Council Graduate Batten Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Commerce Representative: Brett Hoffmann
Student Council Graduate Commerce Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Continuing and Professional Studies Representative: vacant
Student Council Graduate Continuing and Professional Studies Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Education Representative: vacant
Student Council Graduate Education Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Engineering and Applied Sciences Representative: vacant
Student Council Graduate Engineering and Applied Sciences Representative: vacant
Student Council Medicine Representative: vacant
Student Council Undergraduate Nursing Representative: Joria Le
Student Council Graduate Nursing Representative: vacant
Second Year Council
Second Year Council President: Sophia Liao
Second Year Council Vice President: Anisa Mohamed
Third Year Council
Third Year Council President: Ryan Alcorn
Third Year Council Vice President: Jayla Hart
Fourth Year Trustees
Fourth Year Trustees President: Jason Anderson
Fourth Year Trustees Vice President: Kristin Myers
Honor Committee Representatives
Honor Architecture Representative: Caitlin Kreinheder
Honor Batten Representative: Bridget Rizzo, Ryan Keane
Honor Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Representative: Zoe Olbrys, Schuyler Guare, Andrew Chambers, Madhav Nair, Christian Smith
Honor Commerce Representative: Hunter Rockley
Honor Continuing and Professional Studies Representative: George Maris
Honor Undergraduate Education Representative: Isabelle Edwards
Honor Graduate Education Representative: vacant
Honor Engineering and Applied Sciences Representative: Zainab Aziz
Honor Medicine Representative: vacant
Honor Nursing Representative: Jaelen Guerrant
Architecture School Council
Architecture School Council President: Bridget Thornberry
Architecture School Council Vice President: Caitlin Kreinheder
Architecture School Council Secretary: Catherine Henebery
Architecture School Council Treasurer: Keita Heinrich
Commerce Council
Commerce Council President: Tyler Windsor
Commerce Council Vice President: Maggie Wittpenn
Commerce Council Treasurer: Jenna Taylor
College Council
College Council President: Dre Dilao
College Council Vice President: vacant
College Council Secretary: vacant
College Council Treasurer: Aditya Sarkar
Education Council
Education Council President: Sarah Lilly
Education Council Treasurer: Arabelle Le
Education Council Vice President & Secretary: Jane Patrick
Education Council Academic Affairs Chair: vacant
Education Council Communications Chair: vacant
Student Health Insurance Committee Representative: vacant
Education Council Undergraduate Community Service Chair: vacant
Education Council Undergraduate Inter-school Relations Chair: vacant
Education Council Undergraduate Social Chair: vacant
Education Council Undergraduate Scholarship and Professional Development Chair: vacant
Education Council Graduate Community Service Chair: vacant
Education Council Graduate Inter-school Relations Chair: vacant
Education Council Graduate Social Chair: vacant
Nursing Student Council
Nursing Student Council President: Sydney Tweedy
Nursing Student Council Vice President: Sarah Franklin
Nursing Student Council Secretary: Kate Partlow
Nursing Student Council Social Committee Chair: Morgan Simpson
Nursing Student Council Treasurer: Margaret Gillen
University Judiciary Committee
Judiciary Architecture Representative: Jackson Key
Judiciary Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Representative: Lauren Kim, Slade Sinak, Nijat Khanbabayev
Judiciary Batten Representative: Gabby Cox, Monica Marciano
Judiciary Commerce Representative: Hunter Rockley, Brett Hoffmann
Judiciary Graduate Education Representative: Al Ahmed
Judiciary Engineering and Applied Sciences Representative: Camille Cooper, Gustavo Moreira
Judiciary Medicine Representative: Parantap Patel
Judiciary Nursing Representative: Joria Le
Batten Undergraduate Council
Batten Undergraduate Council President: Matt Gillam
Batten Undergraduate Council Director of Communications: vacant
Batten Undergraduate Council Treasurer: vacant
Batten Graduate Council
Batten Graduate Council President: Thomas Roberts
Batten Graduate Council Special Events Chair: Natalie Moore, Wittney Skigen
Batten Graduate Council Treasurer: Sarah Robinson
Batten Graduate Council Community Engagement Chair: Tatenda Mabikacheche
Batten Graduate Council Secretary: vacant
Engineering Student Council
Engineering Student Council President: Jack Good
Engineering Student Council Vice President: Sarah Meng
Engineering Student Council Secretary: Zachery Morris
Engineering Student Council Treasurer: vacant
Engineering Council Fourth Year Board President:
Correction: This article has been updated to add that Gabby Cox and Ryan Keane were elected Batten Judiciary representative, and that Brett Hoffmann was elected Commerce Judiciary representative.
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