Article by: Derek Anderson
“I’m hoping for a good turnout…”
In the upcoming special elections, the Student Government Association (SGA) has begun the search to fill the controversial Senator-at-Large seats. With their signature packets due Jan. 22, the candidates running have been given the green light to campaign.
An amendment was passed changing the number of seats for positions on the SGA Senate. Last year, a chaotic debate erupted over the number of seats held in the Diversity section of the Senate. The amendment now states that “One (1) seat shall be reserved for a student representative of Diversity,” which has changed from last year’s proposed four seats.
The elections are to be held on Feb. 3-5 and seven students have already been okayed to fight for their positions. Andrew MacDonald, 2011, is running for the Sawyer Business School seat, Lina M. Rodriguez for the Resident seat, and Jarrett Wadbrook, 2013, for the Diversity seat. One student does not yet have enough signatures to run, but is expected to try for the College of Arts and Sciences seat. According to SGA President Brian LeFort, even if it is past the election and the seat is still available, a student may still be able to fill it.
The biggest fight, however, will be for the open seats on the Senate. Four students, Roxanngely Correa-Torres, 2012, Jonathan Hartman, 2012, Alexa Golden, 2011, and Andrew Cataluña all are fighting for the three open senator seats. The other students are all running unopposed for their positions.
Hartman became interested in running for SGA when he, “attended three or four Suffolk SGA meetings.”
“But all it takes is just one stupid kid to create all this trouble and give this school a bad reputation and totally abuse it, and that’s bound to happen,” said Hartman. “There were a lot of discrepancies at the meeting, it was more like people fighting and arguing with each other and it shouldn’t be about that. It shouldn’t be about politics, it should be about getting things for the students and improving the school.”
Golden, who is also running for an open seat on the senate is more concerned with the issues of diversity at Suffolk.
“For the past two years I’ve been president of the Rainbow Alliance and diversity on this campus is an issue,” said Golden. “There have been a lot of problems with SGA and diversity groups coexisting. There’s been a lot of debate about this diversity seat. That’s not the seat I’m running for but it’s definitely one of the reasons I want to get involved in SGA. There’s many issues at this school that need to be changed. I really just want us to work together.”
When the time for voting on candidates comes, all voting will be conducted completely online.
“I’m hoping for a good turnout,” said LeFort. “It’s the first special election we’ve done in a while.”
If students have questions about the SGA or the special elections they can go to the SGA office on the 4th floor of Donahue, Office 433. People can also email SGA at [email protected] or call at (617) 573-8322.
