The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    SGA holds elections, vote now

    Students can vote in the SGA elections by visiting the SGA section of the university website and clicking on the link in the middle of the page.
    Jonathan Rhodes/ The Lion's Roar 

    The 2017 Student Government Association General Elections are currently taking place online. Students can vote by following a link on the SGA section of the university website. Voting began Apr. 3 at 8 a.m. and will continue until Apr. 5 at 4:30 p.m. To cast their ballot, students will need to log in using their WNumber and account password. 

    This year, students are running for president, vice president, chief justice and senators for the different colleges.

    While many candidates are running unopposed, Caleb Kerstens and Seth Leto are both running for SGA president. 

    The position of  SGA president includes duties and responsibilities such as holding the executive powers of SGA, coordinating and directing the cabinet’s duties as well as appointing justices and senators. SGA president also can call special sessions, approve or veto any legislation originating from the senate and help or be on committees and positions that the university has deemed necessary.  The cabinet includes the vice president, chief justice, senate pro tempore, associate chief justice and the chief of staff. 

    Kerstens is a junior who has is currently serving as chief justice. His platform is “Putting Students First.”

    Leto, also a junior, is a current SGA senator and was awarded the Most Outstanding Freshman Male by the Division for Student Affairs in 2015. His platform is “Keeping Pride 2017.”

    Richard Davis Jr. is  sole candidate running for vice president, with a campaign platform called “Reformation Transformation Restoration.” 

    Ali LeBlanc, a junior political science major is the candidate running for chief justice. She has been involved with SGA since 2015 and has already served both one year on the senate and one year as associate chief justice. 

    The chief justice and justices are part of the Student Supreme Court which is the judicial branch of SGA. The chief justice’s duties include presiding over the judicial branch, serving as the Election Board Chair and meeting with the Office of Student Conduct to serve on the Student Conduct Hearing Board.

    The student senators of different colleges are part of the legislative branch which helps complete duties as instructed by the president of SGA and proposes and passes legislation. Senators are selected from a majority of each academic college in the university. There is a ratio of one senator to each 500 students enrolled in the college at that time. 

    Anna Crawford, with a platform geared towards giving students more chances to interact with the senate and revising the bylaws, and Brittany Calecas, with a platform aimed at making herself available to students in her college for anything they might need, are both running for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences senator position. Cedric Dent Jr. is also running for a senator position and has a platform with phrase, “One team, one goal, and one vision!” as his slogan. 

    For the senator of the college of Science and Technology, Binisha Karki, Marianna Carter and Pawan Shrestha are running for available spots. 

    When logging in to vote students will be able to view each candidates bio and platform prior to casting their ballot. While all students are able to vote for president, vice-president and justices, the senators they are able to vote for will vary depending on the college of the major.

    Election results will be announced by the in the Student Union after voting closes on Apr. 5.

     

    Editor's note: Edited for additional content on April 5

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