April 7, 2017
Unite candidates Mary McMahon, Maddie Breaux and Kristopher Harrison secured the Student Government Association’s Big Three spots for the 2017-18 academic year.
“Coming here freshman year, two hours away from my hometown, it was difficult to find a place where I fit in,” said McMahon, SGA president-elect. “After running for freshman elections, I found my home away from home in SGA. This is where I discovered my true passion — to be able to serve the students.”
President-elect Mary McMahon received 54.20 percent of the 1,583 votes cast. André Dubois IV, the Empower candidate, received 29.92 percent, or 472, votes. Independent candidate James Downing received 15.98 percent of the vote 253 votes..
Asked about her future initiatives during her term, she said she plans to revisit SGA’s purpose at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
“My hope for next year is to find ways to enhance the student experience,” she said. “Also, to go back to the purpose of the SGA and to ensure that we are fulfilling each aspect of the mission statement. Making sure that we are also able to unite students and give them a voice at our university, within our city and our state.”
Breaux, vice president-elect, said she plans to restructure SGA committees to increase their efficiency.
“One initiative I have planned is to start restructuring the committees, so they could work more effectively — similar to LSU’s student government,” she said. “Issues would be able to flow through the student government and reach resolutions through the administration.”
“I want more investments in the college projects, increasing their funds, that way they could have more projects to work with,” said Harrison. “In addition, I’m going to require college presidents to spend a certain amount of money from their college budget to ensure that every college has a chance to host their own projects.”
He also adds that he plans on opening the finance committee meetings to all students.
André Dubois IV, Empower party’s presidential candidate, said his time with SGA is slowly coming to an end. With a slight stretch between both McMahon and Dubois, the junior petroleum engineering major said he plans on focusing his last year on working.
“I do what I can as the college president, then I’ll be moving on,” he said.
After four years of having an unopposed victory ticket, the 2017 spring elections concluded with three run-offs from the colleges of business, liberal arts and sciences.
For the College of Business, the Unite presidential candidate received 99 of the votes and the Empower candidate received 98 of the votes. For the College of Liberal Arts, the Unite presidential candidate received 177 votes and the Empower Presidential candidate received 115 votes. Finally, for the College of Sciences, the runoff election will be between two Unite candidates.
Runoff elections for these colleges will take place April 12 and 13 on OrgSync.
College president-elects include Sam Riehl, College of the Arts, with Unite; Kandice Kidd, College of Nursing, under Unite; Matthew Juby, College of Education, with Unite; Landon Jackson, College of Engineering, with Empower; Oludamilola Adesiyum, Graduate School, under independent and Katie Wappel, College of Science, under Unite.
Senators for each college are listed below.
Arts: Leah Mandel, Unite; Cameron Parsons, Unite.
Business: Scott J. Davis, Empower; Mary-Margaret Gil, Unite; Kameron Newton, Unite; Thomas Schumacher, Unite.
Graduate School: Mary Alexander, Unite; Andrew Gauthier, Empower; Robert Tarleton, Unite.
Liberal Arts: Ross Allbritton, Unite; Cassie Babineaux, Empower; Megan Baptiste, Unite; Chandler Chavis, Unite; Megan Major, Unite; Benjamin Messner, Unite.
Nursing: Jenna Brewton, Unite; TJ D’Angelo, Unite; Rita Onuzuruike, Unite; Madi Proctor, Empower; Derrell Sam, Unite.
Education: Grant C. Bernard, Unite; Ally Domangue, Unite; Ja’Riel Jones, Unite; Kayla Rogers, Empower.
Engineering: Isioma “Izzy” Anazodo, Unite; Oni Moupeoluwa, Empower; Gideon Njoku, Unite; Lotanna Nweke, Empower; Anna Paddock, Unite; Brittny Wilson, Unite.
Sciences: Remi Coco, Unite; Taylor Jeansonne, Empower; Alex Zamora, Empower.