Alex Zimmer

Florida Southern College announced the results of the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate elections on Sept. 16th. 

On any college campus, students will express concerns with anything from class size to parking to food served in the cafeteria. There will always be concern with things that affect the everyday life of the student body.

While anyone can complain, only a percentage of people will take the initiative to actually address the issues students have with campus operations. SGA is the place to be if you seek to make real change happen on the Florida Southern campus. 

“We have a lot of power when it comes to making effective change on campus,” Arjeet Tipirneni, SGA president said. “If you want to make a difference, this is the best way of getting your voice heard.”

This power to make an impact is what drives dozens of students to run for the Executive Board and Senate of SGA. Senators represent particular demographics, including Greek affiliates, athletes, honor students, and members of the student body by class.

Senators seek to represent the wants and needs of their constituents to the administration and make their voices heard. This year, 620 Florida Southern College students took to the virtual polls over the course of four days to vote for their 2019-2020 Senate representatives, electing students to represent the diverse facets of the student body. Voter turnout was up 100 votes from the previous year’s election. 

“This was the most competitive SGA election in recent memory,” said Tipirneni. “Just for the four First-Year [Senator] positions, we had 27 freshmen running.” 

One of the four new First-Year Senators is freshman political science major Logan Buffa. Buffa looks forward to making the Florida Southern campus more accessible, more sustainable, and more enjoyable for everyone who attends and visits the Florida Southern College campus. Buffa is one of 36 new senators who were elected over the four day voting period. 

Due to the highly competitive nature of the election this year, student candidates engaged in rigorous campaigning around campus. This included posters to be hung around classrooms and buildings and social media flyers being shared. Witty slogans were thrown around and names were written in chalk across the sidewalks of the campus. Some candidate teams even created campaign t-shirts for themselves and their friends to wear around campus.

As in every election, name recognition is an incredibly impactful campaign tool.  SGA encouraged students to get involved in the election process by handing out donuts and ‘I Voted!’ stickers for everyone who could confirm they had voted.

“Campaigning was some of the most fun I’ve had on campus thus far,” Buffa said. “It was really cool to be able to meet new people and learn what issues matter to the students of our campus.” 

Moving forward, SGA plans to organize the Senate body to be more involved and more focused to successfully create and execute solutions to problems facing the students of Florida Southern College. 

“[We] have the opportunity to bridge the gap between students and the administration and make consequential change to student life and the campus itself,” Tipirneni said. 

 

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