The electronic ballots have been cast. The tallies have been totaled. And another cycle of undergraduate Student Government Association elections at the University of Massachusetts has been put into the books.
The SGA’s annual fall elections ended late last Thursday – and many incumbents, along with a few newcomers, will be filling the seats at the governing organization’s weekly Senate meetings, the first of which begins tonight.
Those elected to the Senate from the Sylvan Residential Area were Clay Merrill and Jonathan Lopez. There is still one vacant position in Sylvan, said Speaker of the Senate Jarred Rose.
From the North Apartments, residents Sophia Zaman and Nanan Bumpus were elected.
Coming from the north sector of the Southwest Residential Area, Adam Baldarelli, John Jessey, Ryan Teixeira, Maurice Gatengo, Magda Compere and Joane Theophile were elected to Senate posts.
In the south sector of the Southwest Residential Area, residents elected incumbents Zac Broughton, Lindsay Vitale and Nick Barton, as well as Emily Notini, Gabrielle Cook, Obi Iloh and Emily Hajjar.
Elected to Senate positions from the Northeast Residential Area were Avery Normyle, Brigid Thompson and Tin-La Shing. One vacant position remains, said Rose.
Coming out as victors and claiming hold to five open Senate spots in the Central Residential Area were incumbent Sean O’Connor, Emily Grey, Renee Barouxis, Savannah Van Leauuvan-Smith and Keith Lema.
Residents in the Orchard Hill Residential Area elected former governor Garrett Gowen, Lily Fitzgerald, Priya Ghosh and Vikrant Sunderal Chandel to Senate posts.
The 19 people elected to the Senate from commuter areas were returning SGA members Christopher Lehmann, Nate Lamb, Dan Stratford, Alex Cidado, Allison Sacks and Jessica Stern. Others elected from the commuter area were Hailey Wallace, Trevor Bullard, Tyler Manoukin, Dillan Curtis, Allison McGrail, Michael Cusher, John Rockwell, Brad Rowbotham, Elle Rahilly, Robert “Thirdbaseman” Nason, Alex Labib, James Murray and Nikos Karakasidis. Some of those elected included write-in candidates, Rose said. If the elected senators choose not to be a part of the SGA, they must resign their post in front of the Senate, he added.
Voters in last week’s election also cast their opinions regarding a few referendum questions.
Those who voted were split on their support of the Collegiate Readership Program, with 509 students supporting the whole program and 390 supporting a portion of the program – which had brought USA Today, the Boston Globe and the New York Times to the campus and was made available in the dining commons and Campus Center for free – that only included the New York Times. The highest response to the answer came from 556 voters, who backed a portion of the measure that called for not supporting the program at all.
Recently, the SGA cut the readership program, which it deemed was too expensive. Voters in last week’s election were asked if they would like to see it brought back.
Another set of referendum questions dealt with a campus-wide tobacco ban that was passed by the Faculty Senate last spring and calls for the prohibition of all tobacco products on campus beginning in July 2013. A majority of 724 voters did not support this policy, while 554 voters supported it. Only 197 voters did not have an opinion on the matter.
A second question regarding the ban asked if students would like to see a designated smoking area on campus. Again, the vast majority of 984 voters expressed their approval of the idea, while 322 voters said that they did not support that policy and 168 voters did not have an opinion on it. The results of the referendum questions have no direct or immediate effect on the future smoking ban.
Ashley Berger can be reached at [email protected].