By CONOR SHEA
Features Editor
This past Thursday, results of the Saint Rose Student Association elections were announced. Student voting took place on Blackboard from Tuesday to Thursday, with the polls closing at 4 p.m. on the last day.
The results, while officially unknown to the student body, were largely ceremonial, as all but one of the candidates ran unopposed. Justin Whittaker—the current President of SA—defeated his opponent, Imran Hossain, to finalize a future Student Association Board unchanged from the previous year.
Hossain managed to find a positive outlook even in his defeat, wishing Justin the best in his efforts to improve the Saint Rose community.
“Congratulations to Justin for his second term in office. To my fellow peers I ran an election, an election to represent our cause. I may have lost in votes, but I think I got our voices heard,” said Hossain.
Hossain is a sophomore political science major at Saint Rose, and while he will be eligible to run for an SA position next spring, he seemed undecided.
“If I do not see the change that we seek… plan on seeing me run for office again,” he responded.
All other candidates had been members of the SA board previously, and while some ran for their current position, others chose to shoot for the different positions available.
One such individual is Aideen Hanlon, current director of academic activities and soon to be comptroller for SA.
Hanlon, on the turnout of students to the polls said, “We, as candidates, weren’t allowed to send out mass texts or post on social media reminding people to vote, either, so I think a lot of people most likely forgot to vote.”
She continued to say that the rules for campaigning, while strict and somewhat limiting, are there to make the race fair for all participating.
More than just a lower turnout for the elections themselves, SA has recently been suffering a decline in club members. When asked if this may be the cause of the low number of candidates running, Hanlon rebutted that she believes a number of students want more experience with SA before running for a position.
She did, however, concede that the lack of involvement in SA candidacy could be representative of a decreased level of student involvement on campus in general.
Jessica Cacace, a Saint Rose sophomore, said she didn’t expect there to be so few students interested in running for SA.
“At first I was shocked that there was only one person who ran in opposition to the current members. Then I realized that some clubs on campus are really suffering with student involvement, and maybe there weren’t enough SA club members who were interested in running,” she said.
Cacace did go on to offer an alternative point of view. “I also believe that the candidates who were re-elected did a good job this past year, so students may have wanted the SA board to stay the same,” Cacace said.
“We do the best that we can to make things fun for everyone, but numbers still seem to go down a little each year,” said Hanlon, on SA’s efforts to bolster student involvement.
According to Hanlon, this decline in numbers is partly exacerbated by the student body’s tendency to informally voice their concerns outside of SA club meetings, often through social media.
“Lots of people love to complain, but when push comes to shove, they don’t want to do anything about it. Tweeting about things isn’t going to help us. We need students to come to our meetings and work with us to make changes on campus. We really do want to make a difference so please, help us help you,” she explained.
Whittaker, despite having to campaign for his position like any other member, would prefer if more students would run for SA Board.
“We still don’t understand why people have not expressed interest in running for an SA position because there are capable students on this campus that could do just as good of a job,” Whittaker said.
He further stressed the importance of student involvement, citing the need for more interest in SA candidacy next year.
“If I could say one thing to the Saint Rose student body, it would be to get more involved and come to SA meetings,” Whittaker said. “Club membership decreases a little bit every year and it’s very frustrating.”
More than just a plea for involvement, Whittaker has made a promise to the Saint Rose student body that their involvement will not go overlooked.
“We will listen to everyone’s comments and/or concerns because we want every student to have a great experience for their four years at Saint Rose.”
Looking forward, students may begin to see changes to the structure of SA-sponsored events, said Courtney Carr, current director of communications.
“I would like to do more school spirit events like the ones that I have launched this year,” Carr said. “I have noticed that the more casual events have more student attendance, so I will be looking to do more, smaller, events as opposed to a couple of larger ones.”
Assuming Whittaker and the rest of the SA staff can drum up more interest, there may in fact be more of a battle to fill SA positions in the spring of 2015, as Whittaker, Hanlon, and Carr will not be running for reelection.
This should leave more room for SA club members interested in taking more of a leadership role, and encourage them to step up. Only time will tell if students will seek to heed the advice of their class president, and get more involved.
