The day before University of Massachusetts undergraduates bolted for spring break, elections for Student Government Association president, student trustee and area governors came to a close with a turnout of nearly 3,000 voters. Junior Yevin Roh was elected to the post of SGA president, while junior Tina Kennedy netted the title of student trustee.
“I thought the election had a great turnout,” said SGA Elections Chancellor Zachary Dawson. “I was really impressed with all the candidates, and especially with how Yevin and Tina ran their campaigns.”
Dawson said this year’s election was exciting for him.
“It was a close race,” continued Dawson. “The top two candidates were within 100 votes of each other for both the presidential and trustee candidates.”
Roh, who won by a mere 72 votes, said he felt before results were announced that the race between he and juniors Dave Robertson and Nate Lamb would be neck-and-neck.
“I was cautiously confident that I would win, but I knew it would be a close race,” Roh said. “My cautious confidence came from the fact that I have worked with and helped a panoply of student groups.”
Throughout the election, Roh said he admired both opposing candidates. He added that he is excited to work with them during his presidency.
“I have a great respect for Dave Robertson,” said Roh. “He and I currently work together on several student issues, and we have collaborated in the past.”
In a post-election interview, Robertson said he has a few concerns about Roh’s election.
“Yevin may be too quick to fight the administration before gaining the full information about situations,” said Robertson.
He also expressed concern that Roh may not “remember the average student.”
“He has a tendency to focus on differences, and yes, we all come from different backgrounds and we all have things to be proud of,” continued Robertson, “but we’re all also in this together as UMass students, and it is good to have an empowered student base, but while we should be proud of each other’s backgrounds, we should also focus on what makes us similar.”
“I don’t know much about Nate,” Roh continued, referencing Lamb. “We haven’t formally met until this semester. Regardless of the outcome, I hope both will continue to fight for the issues they campaigned for; I will happily work with them as a student and as SGA president for the welfare of our peers.”
Although candidates do not run on a technical ticket together, candidates for SGA president and student trustee this year, as in the past, ran as conceptual running mates. Roh’s running mate, Widlynn Louis, whose campaign in the days before the election may have suffered from reports in the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian of her two arrests this semester – one for alleged aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and another for an alleged violation of Amherst’s noise bylaws – fell to Kennedy.
“I am excited to work with Tina,” said Roh. “Like Dave, I have known and worked with Tina since our freshmen year. I know from past experience that I can work well with her. We share similar politics, and most importantly, a dedication to students.”
Roh said he has a lot of plans for the near future, adding that he is enthusiastic about beginning. He said his initial aim is to focus on preparing for the June UMass Board of Trustees meeting to “protest the flagship fee and defend changes to the Code of Student Conduct that the CSC review committee and I have worked on.”
According to Roh, these changes include “the development of clearer and updated policies on hate crimes and what constitutes hate speech, a new bathroom policy for gender non-conforming students, and a more comprehensive sexual assault policy.
Roh also said he feels strongly about generating support and feedback regarding changing the role of the current peer judicial board system.
“It would allow students that take responsibility for minor policy violations to be treated justly as a peer, and not just a student ID number,” said Roh. He added that he believes as a university, the number of sanctions delivered to students suggest a disconnect with what the University’s goals should be, which is keeping “education our goal – not punishment.”
“UMass currently hands out more sanctions than it does diplomas; my hope is that the opposite can be true,” said Roh, who gained this statistic from the University’s student legal services.
“By using peer judicial boards, we can help ease the number of cases seen by the Dean of Students office, allowing them to give the due attention to serious policy violations,” said Roh. He said he believes violent crimes should require the attention of the Dean of Students, but that the office “is being clogged up by minor offenses” that could be addressed with the peer judicial board. He also stressed how he feels peer-to-peer education about the ramifications of minor violations could help students feel more aware of how violating a noise violation within the dorms affects other students.
Roh ran on a platform that suggested he would be bringing greater diversity to the campus.
“Exploring diversity helps each of us here at UMass. Every person is an individual, but also a sliver of a multitude of backgrounds and cultures we can all learn from to better prepare ourselves for an increasingly globalized world,” he said.
“I do not operate under a narrow definition of diversity that only includes color,” he continued. “Students here at UMass have visible and hidden identities that extend far beyond race, and it is time we made a safe space for dialogue to happen.”
Roh plans to set up SGA tabling during “convenient times for students” in the Campus Center so that students can interact with SGA senators and express concerns they would like the SGA to focus on.
“I really look forward to working with each individual and group who comes my way,” said Roh. “I am very open to feedback and criticism, both positive and negative. If any person has an issue with my administration, I would love to have them contact me personally and talk to them one-on-one.
“I have a lot of thank you emails to send to the people who have helped put me in a position where I can visibly fight for students,” said Roh.
Kennedy also defeated her opponents by a small margin. She won with 1,090 votes, while Louis secured 989 and candidate Emily Jacobs held 693.
Surrounded by friends and campaign volunteers the night the results came in, Kennedy described her feelings that night as being “so overwhelmed with emotion … relief, happiness, excitement.” She said she “wanted to call [her] parents straight away.”
Kennedy admits she was slightly surprised by her win and even more surprised when her running mate, Robertson, lost his election.
“Dave and I were prepared for two things, as is any ticket, to lose together or to win together. I think what added mostly to my shock was that Dave had not won and I had,” she said.
“I’m still going to do everything I said I was going to do anyway, but just outside the SGA most likely,” said Robertson, who was unsure about what exactly his role with the SGA would be next year. He added that he feels his connections and contacts with administrators at UMass who were looking forward to working with him had he been elected will help him continue with the plans on which he ran.
These plans include focusing on creating an SGA-funded program for undergraduate students to gain training from members of the department on advising, similar to the peer mentor position in UMass Residential Life. Robertson also wants to help elevate what he feels is a negative perception of UMass’ Greek life amongst the Amherst and UMass communities by gaining better press for Greek life’s positive events.
Despite her shock at the election results, Kennedy said she looks forward to working with Roh.
“I know [Roh] to be a sensible individual who understands the notion of camaraderie,” she said. “In truth, at the end of the day we might have been on opposing tickets, but we have respect for each other and we have each others’ backs.”
Kennedy noted that she will stick with the initial plans she outlined during her campaign as part of the Kennedy/Robertson ticket, by continuing to push for meal plan reform and improved advising, an issue Roh has also discussed.
Kennedy said increasing affordability for students is not only a long-term goal, but also her top priority.
“We were elected by the student body to serve and advocate in the best interest of the students, and that is what we intend to do,” she said.
Current trustee Mike Fox will train and teach Kennedy about the position throughout the semester.
Fox will stay on through June and Kennedy will continue to be associate speaker until he leaves.
Residential area gubernatorial elections were also held.
Evan Pleasant won the position of Central governor in a landslide, as did Jenna Adelsberger for Orchard Hill. Kenneth Zhou won for Northeast and Emily Warnock won for North. Joshua Haney narrowly beat out Nick Julian to win the gubernatorial race for Southwest.
Elsie Spencer won the race for Sylvan governor, lieutenant governor and secretary with three votes in each category. Maria Burden is the new commuter governor.
All of the new positions begin for the fall 2011 semester.
Alyssa Creamer contributed to this report. Sam Hayes can be reached at [email protected]. Ashley Berger can be reached at [email protected].
