The Committee on Student Elections (CSE) announced the results of the Student Government Association (SGA) 2016-2017 Class Council elections on Monday evening. Compared to last year’s election, total voter turnout fell roughly 35 percent from about 1,506 students to 974 students this year. 24.3 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
Current Junior Class President, Syed Hossain, was re-elected with 218 votes and 52 abstentions. Sarah Zappone, a current sophomore class senator, was elected class president with 246 votes and 30 abstentions. Freshman Class President Noh Mebrahtu was also re-elected with 304 votes and 36 abstentions. All three candidates ran unopposed.
Once the statistics had been gathered, Hossain mentioned his disappointment with this year’s drop in voter turnout.
“I think as far as elections, I was disappointed to see that not enough people ran for office. All three class council presidents ran unopposed and so did some of the senators for different class councils,” Hossain wrote. “I think more people should run for office because each candidate brings a different perspective on how to better JHU, and students should then be able to base their votes on a diverse set of ideas.”
For next year’s Senior Class Council Matthew Brown, JB Brown, Ope Olukorede, Adelaide Morphett, Andrew Phipps and write-in candidate Tiffany Onyejiaka were elected as senators. Except for Onyejiaka, the rest of the candidates ran on the same ticket. 296 students voted.
Onyejiaka remarked that many students encouraged her to change the SGA from within after the recent controversy surrounding the SGA Executive Board debate and her back-and-forth with current SGA Executive President Jack Bartholet. She said that this feedback inspired her to run as a write-in candidate.
“One of the things that inspired me to run was that after the video came out a lot of people were saying ‘well, you should be on SGA, you should change it from within,’” Onyejiaka said. “Another thing I realized is that as a part of the BSU [Black Student Union] I’ve always been an advocate for black students, and I also really want to be able to advocate for students of all colors and all races.”
Onyejiaka also plans to be a resource for students who have concerns about the University.
“I want people to know that if they have an issue then they can come to me... I’m going to make sure that your question is heard by someone in order to fix it or to make an action plan,” Onyejiaka said.
Morphett wishes there had been more platforms during the election but looks forward to next year.
“I am honored to have been elected for a fourth term on the SGA, and am very much looking forward to creating even more initiatives to bring the Class of 2017 closer while making Hopkins a closer-knit, stronger, and more just institution!” Morphett wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “The election went smoothly in my opinion. I wish I had seen more intentional, comprehensive platform plans to push the Senate to greater lengths in the next year; however, I have no doubt with great leadership that we will bring the student government to new heights.”
The Freshman Class Council elections were the most competitive and had the highest turnout, with nine candidates and 384 total voters. Five candidates from the New Horizons ticket were elected: Nina D’Amiano, Mi Tu, AJ Tsang, Jennifer Baron and Akshay Bhamidipati. Ash Panakam running on a separate ticket the sixth senatorial spot.
Panakam thought the election went well and said she is committed to promoting diversity and creating more eco-friendly initiatives.
“I thought that the elections went well because all the candidates were respectful and were using really creative platforms to promote their campaigns. As the only non-incumbent elected, I’m really grateful to the freshman class for their support and their commitment to fresh ideas and new leadership,” Panakam wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “As a senator, two important topics that I want to work on next year are promoting diversity on campus and building more eco-friendly initiatives within Homewood. I’m really looking forward to working with the rest of the sophomore class to create better channels of communication between SGA and the student body to make these ideas come to life.”
D’Amiano believes that since many of the freshman class council senators have been re-elected, their previous experience will help them in the upcoming year.
“I am very excited to have been re-elected along with several members of my ticket,” D’Amiano wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “We really learned a lot this year as a class council, and I think our experience will make our performance next year even better than it was this year.”
Kwame Alston, Mieraf Teka, Sathvik Namburar, Alberto ‘Pepe’ Muniz, Keehoon ‘Trevor’ Lee and Hayley Dott were elected as senators for next year’s Junior Class Council on the same ticket. Seven candidates ran for the six senatorial positions and 294 students voted.
Dott said that she and the rest of her ticket are excited that the sophomore class has elected such a diverse group of senators, and spoke about the platform’s initiatives for next year.
“We are very excited that such a diverse group of people has been elected to be on the Class of 2018 Class Council. The fact that we are all involved with different aspects of campus life allows us to reach out to more people and make sure all voices on campus are heard,” Dott wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “We can’t wait to keep working on initiatives from this year, such as laundry swipes and events that bring the Class of 2018 together. We are also hoping to implement new initiatives such as a printing stipend or FFC breakfasts for juniors. Above all, we want to work to provide safe spaces for conversations on mental health and to implement policies that work toward the inclusion and promotion of students of all races, genders and sexual orientations.”
SGA Executive President-elect Charlie Green was happy with the results, and looks forward to next year.
“I am very happy about the results. I know many of the newly elected senate members and they seem very passionate about many issues that the Executive Board will be working on next year. We can’t wait to begin and have already started planning the coming year,” Green wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
The new SGA Senate and Executive Board-elect will be sworn-in on May 1 at noon.
