BRITNEY MALONEY
News Assistant
Three of the four seats in SGA’s executive board were selected last week by Pepperdine’s student body, and the final vote for E-board president ends today.
Juniors Joanna Mason and Kevin Mills are the two presidential candidates who moved on to this week’s election. The election did not end last week because none of the three candidates, including Junior Brendan Groves, received a majority of the vote.
The E-board positions that were selected for the 2006-2007 school year include Executive Vice President Kristen Compean, Vice President of Administration Ryan Harvey and Vice President of Finance Peter Duby.
Mills said that, though he is happy about making it through the first part of the election, and that it is exhausting to think about gearing up for a second election.
“I’ve enjoyed meeting a lot of different people through campaigning,” he said. “But I would prefer not to have to end each introduction with ‘Vote for me.’”
Mason wasn’t sure what to expect from the first election.
“Each candidate had such different strengths and ideas for SGA that I was uncertain who would be in the run-off,” she said.
Mills said he had suspicions that there would be a runoff between Joanna and either himself or Brendan.
“Brendan and I participate in many of the same things and thus share a great number of mutual friends,” Mills said.
The second round of elections finished today and a winner should be announced by the end of the week.
Mason and Mills both continued their campaigning this week, though not as fervently as the week before.
“Last week I visited each freshman hall and talked to a lot of people,” Mason said. “I did not do as much this week. I think people are aware of who I am and what I stand for. This week my intention is to encourage students in the election and vote.”
However, due to the constant stream of student campaigning, the run-off contestants are wary of overloading their audience.
“I think most students here are probably a little tired of hearing a campaign pitch whenever they open their door,” Mills said. “So I have tried to give it a bit of a rest until election day.”
Mason explained the first thing she would do in office if elected.
“My first step will be meeting with my E-board to determine what our shared vision for SGA is,” she said. “I would also like to begin my time as president reaching out to students and initiating programs that I describe in my platform.”
Mills also discussed what his first actions as president, if elected, will be.
“I would meet with President Benton, administrators, residential life staff, Dean Davis, Chris Collins and other leaders at our school in order to share my hopes for next year, as well as see how SGA can better work with their visions for our school,” he said. “The main strength of SGA is its ability to work with those administrators and staff who make the policies that affect our student body. By building a strong relationship with these leaders, students will have a much stronger voice through SGA.”
Candidates elected to class office are senior class president Mushambi (Moe) Mutuma, junior class president Elizabeth and sophomore class president Manelay Gutierrez.
03-29-2006