Tickets for Student Government Association President and Vice President Announced

       The election of next year’s Student Government Association Executive Board will occur on April 5, 2017. At the time of publishing, three presidential and vice presidential tickets have announced their candidacy.

      The first ticket to publicize their campaign consisted of junior politics major Andrew Elder running for president and vice presidential running mate Basira Knight who is also a junior politics major. Elder is currently a Student Government Association Senator for the School of Arts & Sciences. Their campaign is running on the slogan of “Tomorrow Starts Today”. A description of their platform can be found on their website. One goal of the Elder Knight campaign is

     “[To] spearhead the campaign of “Faces of CUA” which will recognize the many faiths, cultures, and ethnicities that make up the Catholic University of America,” as stated on their campaign website.

     Shortly after the return from spring break, sophomore musical theatre major Aaron Mackisey announced his candidacy for student body president with sophomore politics major Jimmy Harrington running for vice president. Mackisey decided to run for Student Government Association president after a phone conversation over the summer with former presidential candidate Governor John Kasich of Ohio. In reference to this call, Mackisey said:

     “He made me promise that I would pray everyday, and that I would do everything I could to help my neighbor. Over the course of the last semester, I decided that the best way to honor my promise to help my neighbor is to run for SGA President. To be in a position to do everything I can to better the daily lives of students at CUA.”

      Mackisey and Harrington identify their main goal as creating a more equal campus for all students. The candidates are promoting their campaign with the tagline of “Your Voice, Your CUA”. Mackisey is the current senator for the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music and Harrington is the current Class of 2019 senator in the Student Government Association.

       The final presidential and vice presidential ticket to be announced was junior politics and theology double-major Brianna Howard for president and junior politics major Jon Paul Weiss for vice president. Unlike the previous two campaigns that were announced, Howard and Weiss partnered with junior finance major Sam Galvin for treasurer and junior finance major Victoria Principato for secretary. However, this is not required of presidential and vice presidential tickets. Howard and Weiss are running a campaign that utilizes various forms of social media, including Facebook, Instagram, and even a Snapchat geofilter that included Bitmojis of all of the candidates on their ticket.

      Some of Howard and Weiss’s campaign objectives include reestablishing a judiciary branch of the Student Government Association, reforming learning communities and senior comprehensive exams, and increasing student jobs on campus. Howard is the Student Government Association senator for the Class of 2018.

      Voting will take place on The Nest from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on April 5, 2017.