Concerns over S.G.I. freshman elections
Results of St. John’s freshman representative elections this past week indicate a lack of attention from the new class.
The elections seem to have gone largely unnoticed by the class of ’14.
Students had the option to vote for a representative of their class for their individual college. Poll voting was held in Montgoris on Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. and Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Students also had the option to vote online beginning at midnight of last Tuesday through 2 p.m. on Thursday, according to the Student Government, Inc. announcement on the St. John’s website.
According to elections committee chair Taryn Glynn, roughly 20 percent of the freshman class voted between the two days. While this may seem low, Glynn said that it “was up significantly from previous years.”
One freshman, Harman Singh, said he had received e-mails to remind him of the elections and saw a notification on his St. John’s Central homepage. When asked why he did not vote, Singh simply said “I didn’t feel like it.”
Matthew Fisehr acknowledged that he too did not vote. Fisehr said he did not notice any sort of announcement on the elections and that even if he had, he would not have voted.
Rita Tautonico, also a freshman, said she did not feel interested in voting and was not approached by any of the candidates. Tautonico said she feels that the elections matter but not more than her schoolwork.
“I care but it’s not a priority,” she said.
Freshman Cooper Magoon, who said he was approached by two candidates, admitted that he thought the elections or having a representative did much of anything. He also said he received constant reminders from S.G.I. that the elections were taking place last week.
“Administration will do what it wants,” he said, “If we get an input, it’s just a formality.”
The representatives are made up of “two undergraduate full-time students from each class within each college (42 total),” according to the S.G.I. website.
The site also explains what exactly a representative’s duties are being the voting members of the SGI floor, charged with the responsibility of approving: all budgetary spending, new or re-activated organizations as well as participating in their respective SGI committees.”
As listed on the SGI website, representatives also approve chair people and co-chairs for standing committees that handle specific matters involving students.