Student Body Elects Next SGA and Program Board Executives

By Anthony Curioso

The votes are in, and the Student Government Association has its new Executive Board for the 2026-27 school year. Elections took place on April 14 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with undergraduate students casting their votes online via the Nest website.

The winning candidates in the April 14 SGA election were: for president, rising senior business major Jack Hermes; for vice president, rising sophomore Brinkley Colquitt; for secretary, rising senior criminology major Danika Marascio; and for treasurer, rising junior politics major David Margand. 

Hermes, Colquitt, Marascio, and Margand comprised the sole ticket to appear on the ballot for this year’s SGA Executive Board election, stylizing themselves “Elevate Catholic U”. However, on Election Day morning, two separate, last-minute write-in campaigns emerged, each supporting a different student for a specific role within the SGA executive board. The first campaign, promoted primarily through texts and emails from the prospective candidate and her supporters, aimed to elect Mollie Murray, a rising senior majoring in accounting, as treasurer. The second write-in campaign quickly gained traction on the social media forum Fizz before dying out almost as quickly as it had launched; this campaign sought to elect Jeffrey “Cutter” Cone, a rising sophomore studying politics, as student body president.

Murray declined to comment on her campaign. Cone could not be reached. 

After the announcement, President-elect Hermes commented on the election process and his hopes for the new, twelfth SGA executive board.

“I want to thank everyone who came out to vote today. There was only one ticket officially running, but it was still too big to rig,” Hermes said. “We are looking forward to serving the student body with humility, dignity, the Cardinal Virtues, and good judgment. Amen.”

At the next SGA senate meeting, tentatively scheduled for next Monday, April 20, President-elect Hermes will present his executive budget for the 2026-27 school year.

Per the SGA constitution, the inauguration of SGA Executive XII will occur on May 1, 2026.

Alongside the SGA election, undergraduate students also participated in a concurrent election to select the next president of CUA’s Program Board. This student organization is responsible for planning events for undergraduates that encompass a wide range of themes. However, it has faced significant controversy in recent years regarding its funding, primarily due to concerns about attendance at its events, which some have deemed insufficient to justify the organization’s budget. 

This year’s Program Board presidential election featured two candidates: Laci Rubio, a junior education major, and Matthew McQueeney, a sophomore mechanical engineering major who received an endorsement from Hermes and whom several outsiders saw as the frontrunner in that particular election for much of the day.

Ultimately, McQueeney emerged victorious in the Program Board election and will spearhead the next attempt to dissipate the organization’s controversy. 

Following the announcement of his victory, McQueeney shared that he is eager to get the ball rolling ahead of a busy summer and a long year ahead.