The Brighter Tomorrow ticket won the race for Student Council’s three highest positions early Thursday morning with third-year College student Clay Dickerson emerging as the winner for president. Dickerson defeated third-year College student Jada Benefield, 53.8 percent to 46.2 percent.
In the race for Vice President for Administration, fourth-year College student Princess Wuraola Olubus-Omisore defeated third-year Batten student Lillian Dorathy 62.4 percent to 37.6 percent. The next Vice President for Organizations will be second-year Commerce student Michael Mitchell, who defeated third-year College student J. De Andrade Lima 56.2 percent to 43.8 percent. The Student Council presidential and vice-presidential elections resulted in an average of 12 percent voter turnout, lower than last year’s 17.68 percent turnout.
Brighter Tomorrow campaigned on improving equity for low-income students by ensuring clubs and groups known as Contracted Independent Organizations receive equitable access to reservation spaces and guidance regarding funding, as well as creating a hub for low-income students to access services like STI testing and dental insurance. The ticket also advocated for having the student member of the Board of Visitors be elected by students, rather than chosen by the Board or a selection committee.
Of the five referenda present on the ballot, four passed, while one failed to earn the two-thirds support required for it to pass. Each referendum received 10 to 15 percent turnout.
The University Guide Service referendum, which 14 percent of the student body voted on, passed with 80.2 percent of votes. This referendum condemned the University’s actions towards the Guide Service in regards to its suspension of the organization’s special status agreement. The referendum was sponsored by individual students, not the organization itself. Prior to the referendum passing but after it had received enough signatures to be placed on the ballot, the University terminated the Guide Service’s special status organization agreement.
One Student Council referendum, which will create a student-athlete representative seat, also passed with 70.6 percent of votes.
Another referendum, which was voted on separately by students depending on their year, will amend each Class Council’s constitution. All four constitutions passed with over 80 percent support. While new constitutions varied in purpose, they included changes such as removing the cap on the number of students in each class council and guaranteeing representation from all schools in each council.
The University Judiciary Committee proposed two amendments this year, one of which passed with 87 percent in favor and will allow the UJC to periodically adjust the number of representative seats to match each school’s population.
The UJC’s second referendum, which would have extended its statute of limitations from 45 days to 90 days, did not pass. While it received 63.9 percent of votes in favor of the change, this referendum required a two-thirds majority to pass, or around 66 percent.
Other contested elections included the race for College of Arts and Sciences representative in the Honor Committee and the UJC.
In the Honor race, the five College representative candidates with the highest number of votes were elected — third-year College students Margaret Zirwas and Seamus Oliver and second-year College students Cody Scarce, Genny Freed and Jack Wallace. Freed placed first in the election, receiving 45.4 percent of the vote.
The races for Honor representative outside of the College were uncontested, and all students who ran were elected.
In the UJC elections, the race for College representative was contested with nine candidates vying for five spots. The five candidates with the most votes were third-year College students Allison McVey, David Dzul and Rose Maggio and second-year College students Calvin Pan and Zach Davidson. McVey received the highest share of votes, with 44.8 percent. The races for UJC representative outside of the College were uncontested, and all students who ran were elected.
While Honor and the UJC have now elected their representatives from each school, the committees will hold internal elections to elect their chairs and executive board members.
All races for Student Council representative in each school were uncontested, and all students who ran won their races.
In the class council presidential and vice presidential elections, all races were uncontested except for the Second-Year Council presidential election, where first-year College student Sahasra Molleti defeated first-year College student Kai Ward, 81.1 percent to 18.9 percent.
The University Board of Elections utilizes ranked choice voting for student elections, allowing students to rank their choices and trigger an instant runoff if no candidate receives a majority of the vote. Full results for all races, including vote totals and turnout figures, can be found on the UBE website.
Read More
Advancement Committee discusses Honor the Future campaign, alumni engagement
By Nina Broderick | 11 hours agoLuellen announced that since July 1, there has been a total of $475 million in commitments to the Honor the Future campaign.
Academic programs allow students and staff to spend spring break abroad
By Bertie Azqueta | 14 hours agoThe Alternative Spring Break program will also facilitate community service trips for students.
Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee discusses cybersecurity in closed session
By Jackie Bond | 17 hours agoThe Board of Visitors Audit Compliance and Risk Committee met primarily in closed session to discuss cybersecurity risks to the University Information Technology Systems.
