New members of Student Council led the term’s first General Body meeting Tuesday, where representatives passed eight legislative bills to approve Executive Board appointments and appointments to the President’s Cabinet, the Administrative Branch, the Organizations Branch, the Support and Access Services Branch.
Executive Board appointments included second-year College student Joshua Harris as Chief of Support and Access Services, third-year Commerce student Adriana Gao to Director of University Relations, second-year College student Brookelyn Mitchell as Chief of Cabinet, second-year College student Valentina Mendoza Gonzalez to Director of Coalition Engagement and second-year College student Andreas Masiaskos as Chair of the Representative Body.
Leadership applications for the Community Coalition administration opened shortly after elections at the beginning of March, with Executive Board applications due Mar. 18 and all other applications due Mar. 24. Following applications, the Community Coalition conducted a series of interviews with candidates and narrowed down their selections to the people nominated in Tuesday’s legislation.
Tichara Robertson, Student Council president and third-year College student, said all appointees were highly qualified, explaining that each has a broad range of skill sets to fit within their respective agencies.
“I again want to reiterate how really, really great these people are that we appointed and that there were many, many interviews,” Robertson said. “We chose people who have had the ideas that fit within the framework of solidarity, uplift and accessibility, but also have a vision for how they want to lead such a big branch of students.”
As the former chief of Support and Access Services, Robertson said she felt very comfortable leaving the branch in the hands of Harris as the new chief, citing his leadership and financial experience in U.Va. Mutual Aid — a committee within SAS that supports students during emergencies by providing no-strings-attached grants.
Both Holly Sims, vice president for administration and fourth-year Batten student, and Violette Cadet, vice president for organizations and third-year Batten student, echoed Robertson’s feeling of confidence for the appointments to their own branches.
“I can comfortably say that all of the people who have been appointed to these positions are better at the roles than I would be, and I think that’s huge,” Sims said.
Before the legislative session that confirmed the Community Coalition’s appointments, Robertson swore in the remaining new representatives who were not present at the Student Council transition ceremony April 2.
Looking forward to the rest of the term for the new Executive Board members, Andreas Masiakos, chair of the representative body and second-year College student, urged new representatives to start thinking about possible legislation that they would like to write during the first legislative session.
“I know that all the representatives here have good ideas and my goal is to help as many of them as possible put those ideas into legislation,” Masiakos said.
Student Council will meet again April 11 at 6:30 in the Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room.
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