The Student General Assembly Elections to be Held September 21st
By Joseph D’Antonio
The Student Government Assembly (SGA) will be holding elections to
fill the SGA senate this Monday, September 21st.
This election will be the first senatorial election under the new SGA
constitution that was ratified last year.
Under the old constitution students elected seven delegates from each
class and then from that assembly the delegates would elect a speaker
who would act as the head of the student government.
Under this new system of government, two senators are elected by each
class and then two senators are elected from each school within the
University. This change was designed to stop certain schools within
the University from dominating the discourse as in the past. The old
Student Government General Assembly (SAGA) was dominated by members of
the school of Arts and Sciences and further, controlled mostly by
Politics majors.
The new system also includes four executive officer positons which are
elected by the general student body at the end of the year before they
take office. Those officers are President, Vice President, Treasurer,
and Secretary.
The President, junior Politics major, Annie St. Amant, is the head of
the student government and her office behaves very much like the
President of the United States. The President may approve or veto
measures approved by the Senate and will act at the Head of State for
the student government.
“I am most excited about getting the new student government off the
ground and fully functioning,” said St. Amant. “So far, this new
system of government has been really successful even just in the first
few weeks. I’m looking forward to witnessing this organization grow
into an effective and efficient entity that students can fully
recognize as the people who are representing and looking out for them
here at CUA.”
The Vice President, junior Politics major, James Benedek, is the
second in command of the student government and would take over the
office of the President if the President was unable to fulfill his or
her duties for any reason. The Vice President also acts as the
presiding officer of the senate and has a power to cast a vote within
the body if he or she choose to do so.
The office of the Treasurer, held by junior Politics major,
Christopher Mulcahey, is the head of the Treasury Board and only votes
on this board in the case of a tie. The Treasury Board is made up of
eight officers selected by the four executive officers and shall be
responsible for the allocation of the student fee to any student run
organization.
The position of Secretary is being filled by Carolyn A. Cipoletti. The
job of the Secretary is to keep records of the various actions of SGA
and the Treasury Board. The Secretary is also responsible for
publishing those actions to the students and keeps them up to date on
the movements of their government.
The new government has also announced new innovative that it will be
pursuing throughout the year.
“We’ve already started brainstorming green initiatives for the year
and have set aside a portion of our budget to conservation efforts on
campus,” said St. Amant. “Our Diversity and our Health and Wellness
task forces have been formed and kick off events have been planned by
both task forces. We are also gearing up to begin a conversation and
review of the visitation policy here on campus.”
The election for senators will be held on September 21st and will
announce its first meeting once elections have been held.
