Suffolk University’s Student Government Association (SGA) election for new senators, including new senators for the class of 2023, is now over.
SGA holds elections twice a year. With campaign flyers plastered across the walls of residence halls and classrooms, students were reminded and encouraged to vote for their class representative by Sept. 26.
This election, freshmen students elected nine new senators to represent the class of 2023, including Angela El-Jazzar, Boston Emmanuel, Tara Maltese, Sabrina Liu, JD Conte, Ana Luiza Bernardes, Sabrina Holland, Brian Le and Lera Galiamova.
The Classes of 2022, 2021 and 2020 voted for their classmates who sought to fill empty senate seats.
Sara Tavana and Geraldine Galvis won seats for Class of 2020 senators, while Andrea Doumit, Gabriela Soto Cotto and Emily Dichele were elected Class of 2021 senators. Stephen Rykola won an uncontested race for Class of 2022 senator.
Sabrina Liu, one of the newest faces in SGA, is a government major. Following her many leadership positions in high school, including president of her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance and vice president of the Diversity Club, Liu now hopes to use her experience to help students at Suffolk.
“I want proper representation for students,” Liu said in an interview with The Suffolk Journal. “Coming from a small town, I know what it’s like to not see myself in my leaders and feel left out of the conversation. I don’t want that for our class and I want to make sure that every single person is represented, not just the loud ones.”
SGA is “the voice of students on campus” and it “works to ensure that students are well represented and feel comfortable at Suffolk University,” according to the organization’s website.
Liu said she will make it her primary goal to follow through on SGA’s purposes.
“As a freshman, I don’t really know about [Suffolk’s] problems yet, but I know that they exist and I hope to alleviate any issues that I am able to in order to make the student experience better,” said Liu. “I’m very big on inclusivity and diversity and something that is important to me is making sure everyone feels like they can add to the conversation, not just have a seat at the table.”
Suffolk students also voted for open senator at large seats.
Logan Casey was elected as senator at large for the New England School of Art and Design, and Jasmine Mohit won the senator at large seat for the College of Arts and Sciences. CJ Koch is also a new senator at large and, like every other at large winner, won an uncontested race.
Chadi Bechara, a freshman politics, philosophy and economics major at Suffolk, was elected diversity senator at large.
Bechara’s passion for politics played a major role in his decision to join SGA.
“My goal in life is to get into politics and the political sphere,” Bechara said in an interview with The Journal. “Any chance I have to give myself an immersion into that kind of world is a good opportunity.”
Bechara said he desires to invoke change within the community. He plans on introducing many new ideas to SGA, including his wish to bring Suffolk to a higher prestigious ranking.
He believes that there is always room for improvement but said, “I simply [have] not been in the school long enough to notice any glaring problems.”
The new SGA senators joined new members at large, who were voted into SGA at the organization’s Sept. 24 meeting, and the returning members of the Senate for a retreat over the weekend.
With many new faces in SGA, a new flux of opinions and voices can be anticipated as the new senators finds their footing within the Suffolk community.