Voters Choose New Student Government

Elections Conclude with SRC Victory by Jana Makki The political slate, “Students Run City,” secured most of the elected positions in the Undergraduate Student Government. After negating the Spring results, Interim President Vince Boudreau confirmed the recent election proceedings. Some of the newly elected members include Taimoor Arif for President and Quintin Price for Executive Vice President. They plan to invoke their slate’s platform to benefit the CCNY community.The new representatives attributed several factors to their victory. Arif says that his team won by “staying away from negativity and not turning it into a slander campaign” as well as “having a positive vibe and actually focusing on ourselves rather than to be focusing on the other team.”Christopher Byfield, a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator, believes that the main factor that drove SRC’s victory was “the idea of complete team work, which consists of persistence, sacrifice, and hard work to the very end.” A fellow CLAS senator, Dina Elhadidy, also credits teamwork as being the primary factor to winning this election. She states, “It is this bond/connection that we had between each other that allowed us to work so efficiently together and make it this far. We stood together through the ups and downs of campaigning and didn’t let anything break us down.”Club funding affected student activities since there was no active government to approve budgets. The new representatives are still settling into their positions so clubs are waiting unusually long for their numbers. Arif and Price aim to address this issue as they transition into their new roles. Price says, “It’s ludicrous that we are in October and our clubs don't have a budget.” Another CLAS senator, Mohammad Tahmid, expressed similar concerns. He states, “My fellow senators and I all share the sentiment that we have to get club funding allocated as soon as possible because of the delay in establishing a USG.”According to SRC’s observations, students decide their delegates based on their perception of them. The way the student body views the candidates can determine their vote. For students who think negatively about the Undergraduate Student Government, the newly-elected members devised a way to change those opinions. Arif ensures, “We will be doing outreach and events for spreading awareness on campus. This will have to do with how to be more involved on campus, and what the USG actually does to make a difference and what it has already done at the same time.”Another factor that students consider is whether their concerns will be heard. According to Byfield, USG intends to be transparent and open with the student body. “I believe in one-to-one interaction of concerns. An assembly will be organized for which student with question and concerns who seek answers would attend this gathering to offer or receive better assistance, advice and solution,” he says.Price shares a different way to get in contact with the Undergraduate Student Government. He invites students to “come to our bi-weekly meetings, or inbox us on Facebook.” Similar to Byfield, Elhadidy considers using a more intimate approach with the student body. She states, “I want the students to get to meet and understand what their new elected officials have to offer. There has to be a relationship between the undergraduate student government and CCNY community in order to make a change on this campus.”As these students shift into their new roles as elected officials, they hope to insight change in the CCNY community. By learning from the missteps of past student governments, the 2017-18 USG vows not to take this opportunity for granted. They will show their supporters that they didn’t vote for them in haste.