AUP'S SGA Elections Bring New Faces

This Friday, AUP will be electing a new executive board composed of all rookies, which could be a turning point in the way the Student Government Association leads AUP. One of the positions open this year was for Undergraduate Student Council( (USC) President. Whoever is elected to this position represents the undergraduate student body with in the university and with out. 

This turnover of executive positions allows for the two candidates to take the undergraduate student body in a new direction. 

As a Psychology major and Gender and Sexuality Studies minor, Dhouha Djerbi, envisions, "a reformed Student Government Association that does not operate in the shadows." 

"If I am elected Undergraduate Student Council President, my priority would be to bring this structure to light and demystify its workings. It has been brought to my attention, on numerous occasions, that many of my peers lack a basic understanding of the intricacies of student government. This became especially clear to me during my time as Gender, Sexuality, and Society chair. The ambiguity surrounding our SGA is very costly; it is counter-productive and detrimental to its success. Members of the executive team, as well as senators, must maintain a continuous line of communication with the students they represent." 

Opposing candidate Quinn Chesser — majoring in international finance with minors in economics, applied mathematics, and international law — is pushing for change in another issue within the AUP community, the ever so luster-lacking monthly school events, such as karaoke nights and trivia nights.

"I'd really like to see is more student involvement. While events like the International Student Soiree or World's Fair usually get huge turnouts—for good reason—the more 'regular' events at AUP are lucky to get 20 students to show up. Even though we're a small school, I'd really like to find a way to convince students to stay involved throughout the entire year, whether that is changing if they know about the events or if there's something we can do to make them more appealing to everyone."

Many of the candidates have held executive positions in other spots around the university, giving them the experience they will need for these open positions. 

Teacher Advisor to SGA, Marc Montheard, has confidence in the candidates this year, stating, "In the past, I have seen many executive teams do a good job even when their members had not already fulfilled executive positions before. I believe that having a mix of 'returning' and new execs can help but this is not the only way of ensuring a smooth transition: Student Leadership has put in place a process to achieve this, even when the exec members are all new. Furthermore, I have no doubt that the current SGA will do its best to help their successors. I am confident in the AUP students who run for elected positions to excel and overcome the obstacles even when their experience is limited; I can assure you that Student Development will do its best to be of assistance as we have done in the past."