The Stentor’s September 29 headline, “Student Government: elected or automatic wins?,” drew attention to the student-run senate’s struggle to fill elected student representative positions for the past few academic years. In many of the past elections, including elections for executive board positions, only one student would run for a position, resulting in an automatic win for that student.
“In my personal opinion, Student Government is too big,” said Devin Tyler ’17, the current student body president, who said he recognized this issue for the first time after reading the Stentor. “It may be time for us to consider making Student Government more exclusive, making it worth a fight, making it worth getting elected,” he continued.
The Stentor brought up the issue of some upperclassmen senators potentially intentionally skipping the election process, in which senators have to collect between 25 and 100 signatures from students they’ll represent, and instead, waiting for an e-mail from Student Government listing vacant positions after the election and asking for interested students to submit letters of interest.
“I can see the frustration with seeing other members getting an easy way into Student Government, but I also recognize the fact that the senator is supposed to represent the constituents, and the constituents have to have some peace in who’s getting elected,” said Tyler, regarding that issue.
Student Government is running the annual election for executive board positions this month. This year, there are at least two students running for each position, giving the student body the option to choose between whom they would like to elect. Students have noticed quite an increase in competition for executive board positions this year, likely due to the fact that there is more than one student running for a seat.
Yik Yak, a social media app that allows users to post anonymously within a five-mile radius of their phone’s location, was buzzing with several posts regarding the Student Government elections the week of campaigning. Students posted their opinions on the Student Government candidate debate, expressing support for some and really bashing others. The debate between the three candidates running for president— Rapheal Mathis ’17, Matthew McPherson ’17, and Bushra Shams ’17— was a popular discussion topic.
Every student running for an executive board position also created Facebook pages to campaign and ask fellow students for support. Social media for Lake Forest College students was filled with campaigns in the month of December.
Election results were expected to be announced the night of December 6. The current executive board will step down at the end of this semester. The 2015 executive board included President Devin Tyler ’17, Vice President Pulkit Diwan ’16, Treasurer Brendan McLane 17, and Secretary Urooj Ahmad ’17.
Over the past year, the executive board changed the traditional meeting place of the organization from Hotchkiss Hall’s Meyer Auditorium to the Skybox in the Mohr Student Center in hopes to promote transparency and encourage students to attend and listen to senate meetings; began a new mental health campaign called “It’s On Us;” and began a new tradition of a presidential address to the student body toward the end of their term.
