SGA announces fall election results, increased engagement from students
Syracuse University’s Student Government Association announced its fall election results on Saturday and noted an increase in voters and applicants. Six first-year representatives and two seats each from Newhouse and VPA were selected. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse University’s Student Government Association announced its fall election results Saturday afternoon with a voter turnout of over 1,500 students, Board of Elections Chair Thalia Benton-Dinneen wrote in a campus-wide email.
SGA reached a voting percentage of 10.5%, or 1,641 students. Benton-Dinneen said the percentage was high for a fall semester election, which historically has less turnout.
Six first-year representatives were elected along with a representative for most colleges. Two students were chosen for both the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The seats for the Falk College of Sport, SUNY ESF and College of Professional Studies are empty as no students from those schools chose to run in the election, Benton-Dinneen said.
“Something that I’m looking toward doing in the spring would be to engage more with those populations, to make sure that they have representation,” Benton-Dinneen said.
The following students were elected to SGA:
First-year representatives:
- Sam Jacob
- Alexa De los Santos
- Zachary Parker
- Aurora Moore
- Olivia Charles
Chloe Lin
C0llege of Arts and Sciences representatives:
- Kenzy Amin
School of Architecture representatives:
- Gabriella Rijo
College of Engineering and Computer Science:
- Braydon Southerland
School of Education representatives:
- Michaela Cordova
School of Information Studies representative:
- Jadalynn Vives
VPA representatives:
- Indre Espinoza
- Taite Paradise
Newhouse representatives:
- Logan Hollins
- Nikita Suharu
This year, SGA saw an increase in both applicants and voters. Applicants must acquire 25 signatures from their constituents in order to move forward in the election process. Benton-Dinneen said there were 43 approved petitions this semester, compared to last semester’s 23.
Petitioners passed SGA’s initial screening process, which includes submitting 25 signatures, a letter of intent and consent for their academic and disciplinary status to be examined.
The overall engagement of SU students during the election surprised executive members of SGA.
“There’s a lot more people campaigning through social media (and) in-person,” Emily Castillo-Melean, SGA’s speaker of the assembly, said. “That’s something I didn’t see much of in the past.”
Benton-Dinneen said she hopes to fill the empty Falk and ESF seats to make sure every college has its voice heard. She plans to host more information sessions for students interested in participating in SGA.
“We hosted three (information sessions) this semester, which I thought was good for the number of seats available,” Benton-Dinneen said. “So hosting more information sessions would just give more students the opportunity to attend and become engaged.”
Castillo-Melean is also working on a way to further involve students by allowing additional non-elected representatives. They would have fewer responsibilities than assembly members.
As an assembly member, students are required to participate in one of SGA’s five committees. Castillo-Melean’s plan would create spots for lower-tier student representatives to also participate in the committees.
“Even if you ran for the election and you unfortunately didn’t get a position, you can still join and be active within the organization as a student representative on one of the committees, just with less requirements as an assembly member,” Castillo-Melean said.
SGA will swear in the elected representatives during its Monday regular meeting.
