The Student Government Association underwent changes to its highest position last week when Rebecca Von Allmen was sworn into office as SGA President on Friday, Feb. 19. Von Allmen, who previously served as the organization’s vice president, replaces former SGA President Kameo Costello, who was removed from office shortly before Von Allmen was sworn in. 

Senate Chair Dannon Olsen said, “Former President Kameo [Costello] is no longer enrolled as a student this semester for personal reasons revolving around COVID-19.”

According to the SGA Constitution, an individual must be enrolled in at least one credit hour as a student at IU Southeast in order to be a member of SGA. Since Costello was not enrolled in any classes this semester, she was no longer eligible to hold office.

The meeting started with remarks that mentioned Costello was no longer part of SGA and should not be included on the attendance sheet moving forward. The senate motioned to swear in Vice President Von Allmen as the new president of SGA, resulting in Von Allmen’s promotion to President.

Chief Justice Chloe Thompson, who swore Von Allmen into office, mentioned that this shift in power would not change much in the way SGA functions overall.

“It just means our vice president has now succeeded into the role of president, and we should still be able to function as normal going forward,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we can move forward better by getting our election committee in line and stuff like that.”

When speaking with Von Allmen about her new role as president, she mentioned that SGA had been struggling this past semester because of a loss of people and the difficulties of meeting over Zoom. She is looking forward to being able to help rebuild SGA during her time in office.

“I’m ready to take the leadership role that the presidency is and help the people of SGA do something good,” said Von Allmen.

Von Allmen felt very honored to take on her new position and is excited to have the opportunity to oversee changes on campus that will benefit the students of IU Southeast. Despite having just taken office, she already has a list of things she would like to accomplish during her time as president. 

“Personally, the biggest thing for me is rebuilding the student community,” Von Allmen said. “I really want to reach out to students.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has really hurt the student community on campus, causing students to feel disconnected from one another. Von Allmen has personally experienced this loss and wants to help rebuild the student community by getting more students involved on campus.

One way Von Allmen plans to do this is by creating an Instagram page for the presidency to help reach her fellow students digitally, as well as recruit more members for SGA. She wanted to extend a personal invitation to any students who are interested in joining as her first action as president.

“If there are any students who want to see what SGA is all about, please email me,” Von Allmen said. “I would be happy to talk to you or just chat about campus. My email is bevonall@iu.edu.”