Third-year College Tichara Robertson was elected Student Council President in a contested election, earning 56 percent of the vote. Students also voted to pass the referenda put forth by the Honor Committee, which outlines a multi-sanction system, one of the single largest changes to the Honor system since its adoption of a formal constitution in 1977.
Robertson’s opponents, third-year College students Vidar Hageman and Tenzin Lodoe received 30.7 percent and 24.3 percent of votes, respectively.
Roberton’s running mates, third-year Batten student Violette Cadet and fourth-year Batten student Holly Sims were elected vice president for organizations and vice president for administration, respectively. Cadet beat out her competitor, second-year College student Ryan Bowers with 67.5 percent of the vote. Sims earned just under 50 percent of the vote, against competitors second-year College student Christopher Joseph and third-year College student Maryam Virk.
“I’m very excited to serve as the next Student Council President and to have this opportunity to use such a high platform to continue my advocacy for marginalized students at U.Va.,” Robertson said. “I couldn’t imagine myself in this position without Violette and Holly, two of the most brilliant women who bring both passion and dedication into all the work that they do…I am beyond thrilled to begin this journey, alongside the students, toward a better U.Va.”
Turnout in the race for Student Council president was just under 20 percent, slightly higher than last year’s turnout of 17.4 percent.
The highest turnout University-wide was on the Honor referendum, with 23.7 percent. Of the 6,138 students who voted, 5,444 or 88.7 percent voted in favor.
Luke Lamberson, chair of University Board of Elections and third-year Commerce student, said he was proud of the final turnout numbers, which is about double last year’s turnout and the third-highest in the past ten years.
“I am so grateful to everyone who voted and helped spread the word,” Lamberson said. “For UBE, this is just the beginning, and we look forward to an even better process and turnout next year.”
Referenda
Two referenda were on the ballot this year, the Honor Committee’s multi-sanction system and an amendment to UBE’s constitution which will increase the number of executive members permitted from 11 to 15.
There have been nearly a dozen attempts to institute a multi-sanction system within the Honor Committee constitution, none of which had achieved majority support among student voters until today. Critiques of the single-sanction system can be traced back to 1971 — a 2004 editorial from The Cavalier Daily called for a multi-sanction system, and in 2007 a slim majority of students voted to uphold the single-sanction system.
The largest change to the constitution is an expansion of possible sanctions, which includes but is not limited to a two-semester leave of absence, expulsion, education and amends. These new sanctions will be applied on a case-by-case basis — there is currently no framework for what qualifies for each of these sanctions.
The proposal also implements a panel that will decide guilt and a panel that will decide sanctions. On the panel for guilt — made up of five Committee members and seven randomly selected students — five-sevenths of the student portion of the panel would have to decide that the offense does not call for expulsion and other “permanent sanctions.”
The passage of this amendment comes one year after students voted to reduce the single sanction from expulsion to a two-semester leave of absence. In September, Gabrielle Bray, chair of the Committee and fourth-year College student, announced a Constitutional Convention to be made up of 30 Contracted Independent Organizations from across Grounds who would work together to draft a multi-sanction constitution.
After the Convention was pushed back twice, roughly 20 of the 30 original delegates met before classes started and drafted four possible proposals for a multi-sanction system. Ultimately, after discussing the four proposals, the Committee decided to put a referendum of their own on the ballot.
“I’m overwhelmed by the participation and the investment students had in the referendum,” Bray said. “I’m grateful to the convention delegates, the policies and procedures team, the support officers, the committee and [the executive committee] for all the work that went into this constitution and this moment. I cannot wait to see how this strengthens our community of trust.”
5,460 students – 21.1 percent of the student body – voted on the UBE referendum. 84.65 percent voted in favor of the referendum, while 15.4 percent voted against it. Following this successful vote, there will now be 15 members on the UBE board — an increase from the current 11 members.
Full results
Student Council President: third-year College student Tichara Roberston
Student Council Vice President for Organizations: third-year Batten student Violette Cadet
Student Council Vice President for Administration: fourth-year Batten student Holly Sims
Student Council Undergraduate Education Representative: third-year student Makana Brooks
Student Council Medicine Representative: Benjamin Ke
Student Council Undergraduate Batten Representative: third-year student Lillian Rojas
Student Council Undergraduate Engineering Representatives: first-year Aditya Tarigoppula and third-year Luke McNabb
Student Council Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Representatives: first-year College student Imane Akhanous, second-year College students Jason Almas, Nathaniel Doty, Andreas Masiakos, first-year College student Noelle Koo, third-year College student Charles Liu and Princess Olubuse-Omisore, first-year College student Chahna Parikh, Sylvia Rahim
Second Year Council
Second Year Council President: College student Keoni Vega
Second Year Council Vice President: College student Annie Zhao
Third Year Council
Third Year Council President: Nursing student James Edwards
Third Year Council Vice President: College student Liv Schortmann
Fourth Year Trustees
Fourth Year Trustees President: Commerce student Kyle Woodson
Fourth Year Trustees Vice President: College student Karina Reynolds
Honor Committee
Honor College of Arts & Sciences Representatives: third-year students Hamza Aziz, Nishita Ghanate, Rachel Liesegang and Jonathan Swap, and second-year Laura Howard third-year
Honor Graduate School of Education Representative: vacant
Honor McIntire Representatives: second-year student Carson Breus, third-year student Brianna Kamdoum
Honor Architecture Representatives: third-year Maille Bowerman, graduate student Timothy Dodson
Honor Law Representative: second-year Daniel Elliott
Honor Engineering Representatives: second-year Lukas Lehman, third-year Kasra Lekan
Honor Medical Representatives: third-year Brian Florenzo, second-year Lam-Phong Pham
University Judiciary Committee
Judiciary Architecture Representative: second-year Heather Byrum
Judiciary Medicine Representatives: Patrick Connolly, Benjamin Ke
Judiciary Batten Representative: Graduate student Thomas Driscoll
Judiciary Undergraduate College of Arts of Sciences Representatives: Second-year students Lisa Kopelnik, Anna Prillaman and Melinda Wong, third-year students Ineke La Fleur and Ronith Ranjan
Architecture School Council
Architecture School President: vacant
Architecture School Vice President: vacant
Architecture School Council Secretary: third-year student Maille Bowerman
Architecture School Treasure: vacant
College Council
College Council President: third-year student Catherine Schwarzschild
College Council Vice President: vacant
College Council Secretary: vacant
College Council Treasurer: vacant
Batten Undergraduate Council
Batten Undergraduate Council President: third-year student Elaine Stombres
Batten Undergraduate Council Vice President: third-year student Carolyn Grimm
Batten Undergraduate Council Director of Communications: vacant
Batten Undergraduate Council Treasurer: vacant
Batten Graduate Council
Batten Graduate Council President: vacant
Batten Graduate Council Secretary: vacant
Batten Graduate Council Treasurer: vacant
Batten Graduate Council Special Events Chair: vacant
Batten Graduate Council Community Engagement Chair: second-year MPP student Marina George
2024 Post-Graduate Class Representative: Post-Doctoral Candidate Asuka Bunthoambunlay
Commerce Council
Commerce Council President: vacant
Commerce Council Vice President: vacant
Commerce Council Treasurer: vacant
Education Council
Education Council President: vacant
Education Council Treasurer: vacant
Education Council Vice President & Secretary: vacant
Education Council Professional Development and Scholarship Chair: vacant
Engineering Student Council
Engineering Student Council President: third-year student Swathi Shekharan
Engineering Student Council Vice President: vacant
Engineering Student Council Secretary: vacant
Engineering Student Council Treasurer: vacant
Engineering Student Council Fourth Year Board President: vacant
Nursing Student Council
Nursing Student Council President: vacant
Nursing Student Council Vice President: vacant
Nursing Student Council Secretary: vacant
Nursing Council Diversity and Inclusion Chair: vacant
Nursing Student Council Treasurer: vacant
Nursing Student Council Social Committee Chair: vacant
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