Numbers up for latest Congress elections
Student Congress elections are rapidly approaching and, as of the groups meeting Wednesday night, there were nine students running for the four positions that make up the executive board: president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.
This means that all executive officer positions will be contested races, something that has not happened in Student Congress for 10 years.
The students who stepped up and took on the challenge deserve a round of applause.
After Wednesday’s Student Congress meeting, Keri Ellington, Student Congress adviser, said it was unlikely anyone else would enter the race before the deadline, which was 5 p.m. Thursday.
The Franklin’s print deadline was Thursday morning.
Ellington was elated about the number of candidates who would be in the election, which will be held on Thursday.
“I think it’s important in the democratic process that people have choices of who their leaders become and I’m excited that all students this year have that opportunity,” Ellington said.
On April 7, Ellington reported there were no candidates for these positions. It’s good to see students stepping up.
Of the nine candidates, two are currently juniors. Three freshman are running for executive board positions.
Ellington also said some class representative positions are still uncontested. Student Congress will actively be looking for people interested in running.
This is exactly what’s needed. Eventually, the members of Student Congress will graduate. And we can’t expect them to continue in Congress forever.
We need to go out and increase interest in Student Congress and get more people involved in the process. This is certainly a step in the right direction.
Student Congress numbers haven’t been stellar over the past few years. Two years ago, three executive board members ran uncontested. This surge of interest is good.
Only one race has more than two candidates. Given the interest this year, hopefully this number will only increase in the future.
