More students than usual gathered for the weekly Student Government Association meeting on March 17. Many came to hear the results of the SGA and Student Body elections, which had been held from March 14 to March 17.
SGA chair Jonathan Moody, psychology junior, announced the results of the elections. Josh Kornberg, communications junior, was elected Student Body president over Ethan Jones, geography and history senior.
A total of 469 students voted in the SGA elections. Kornberg secured 321 of those votes — 65 percent of the votes — along with his vice-president elect, Kevin Evans, elementary education sophomore. Jones lost but collected 162 votes.
“Now I have to be the voice of over 6,000 students and represent them adequately,” Kornberg said. “That’s a daunting task.”
Kornberg and Evans said they were excited about the results after four days of last-minute campaigning.
“We worked really hard this week, so we feel it was well-deserved,” Evans said, speaking of the election results.
Kornberg had a few ideas when it comes to his goals for the upcoming academic year.
“I would like to see a major overhaul in the SGA,” Kornberg said. “I want this to be more than a social club. I want us to be the voice of the student body.”
Evans said he agreed with Kornberg’s goal to create change within the SGA. Evans said he hopes to work closely with the senators.
Kornberg and Evans said they want to create a cohesive bond between the executives and the senators in the SGA and reduce the tension between the two branches of the SGA, the executive and judicial branches. They also said they would like to improve SGA relations with the IUS administration.
Kornberg also said he hopes to do whatever he can to increase student involvement on campus.
“With student involvement comes student retention,” Kornberg said.
His opponent, Jones, said he was not happy with the result.
“I am proud of all the loyal support I received from many students who genuinely cared about the direction of student government,” Jones said. “I feel it is unfortunate that the ‘don’t know, don’t care’ crowd prevailed in the voting.”
Jones said he plans to come back and participate in the SGA, though he is not sure what his role will be yet.
“I really felt the SGA had a chance to be great,” Jones said. “It may still, but it may have to do it despite the executive branch.”
Jones said he might have started his campaign earlier if he had a chance to do it over again, but, overall, he said he had no regrets on the way he handled his campaign.
“I was honest and upright even when my opponent was not,” Jones said.
Jones also expressed doubt about Kornberg’s goals.
“There are still issues to solve before we know if Mr. Kornberg will ever assume office,” Jones said. “He spent his entire campaign declaring open warfare on the senate, so, even if he does, he will not be effective at all. He has little to no support.”
The senate
Kornberg said he wanted students to become more involved with the SGA by becoming part of the senate.
There are currently 11 spots open in the senate. Four of those spots are set aside for any freshmen coming in the fall. All nine senators who ran for office were also elected into the senate: Candice Boudreaux, business junior, Jennifer Broadus, education junior, George Castro, business sophomore, Ruben Dodge, computer science sophomore, Dulguun Otgonsuren, informatics freshman, Matthew Owen, political science sophomore, Stephen Prather, allied health junior, Jennifer Reichert, undecided freshman, and Caleb Vittitow, business sophomore.
The constitutional amendment was also ratified to give the SGA more options to discipline negligent senators without going through a lengthy and inefficient impeachment process. The amendment was approved with 405 out of 445 votes.
These election results will come into effect in the 49th session, which begins April 21.
By MICHELE HOP
Staff
mhop@ius.edu
