BY CHRISTIANNA CASALETTO // MAY 1, 2015 //
The 2015-16 Curry College Student Government Association Executive Board has been elected, albeit by a small percentage of students.
Two of the four seats—including that of incumbent president Martin Heavey—were uncontested. The other uncontested position was for vice president, which went to Cameron Hoyt. In the other two seats, junior Nicholas Wheeler defeated classmate Ana Flores for treasurer, 131-86, and junior Isabel Steiner beat freshman Joanna Cassidy for secretary, 136-91.
Heavey, a junior management major, won with 217 votes, although 33 students voted for “none of the above.” Hoyt, a junior psychology major who served as treasurer this year, earned 207 votes, with “none of the above” getting 36 votes.
With an average of 242 total votes for each of the four positions, only 11 percent of the 2,100 registered Curry College undergraduate students voted this year. Voting took place between April 13 and April 15.
Some students reported voting only because they had personal motivations to do so. Freshman education major Kaitlyn Morris and sophomore community health and wellness major Mikayla Korona said they voted to support friends who were running. Junior nursing major Ana DeAguiar was among the many Curry students who didn’t vote at all. “I honestly forgot to,” she said.
However, not all hope is lost.
“I voted in order to help support my fellow classmates and make sure that the Class of 2016 has good representation come our senior year next year,” said junior management major Natalie Ramos.
Freshman criminal justice and sociology major Peter Newman echoed the sentiment. “I voted because I want the best students to represent us and I can only do that by casting my vote.”
The Executive Board is responsible for guiding the SGA General Assembly in representing the student body. Unlike representatives from each class, the E-board, as it’s known, represents the entire school. Heavey said he believed this year’s E-board did a good job.
“We have been the voice for the student body,” said Heavey. In addition to Hoyt, the other members of this year’s E-Board included Amanda Cullinan as vice president and Christine Nguyen as secretary. Both are graduating in May. “Any issue that has been brought up has been discussed and an action has been taken.”
Those actions include working with Public Safety to add additional “blue light” emergency communication systems onto campus, for improved campus safety.
As for the upcoming academic year, Heavey said his goal is to improve communications with the study body—a goal each of his predecessors in recent years has wrestled with as well. Heavey said a new SGA portal page will debut next academic year, “with the goal of getting our information [out] and receiving the student body’s concerns and comments more efficiently….We would love to hear any concerns.”
