Election season has commenced for Pepperdine’s Student Government Association. Members of SGA said they encourage the entirety of the student body to participate in either voting or running for a student government position.
20 positions were up for grabs this spring between the SGA Executive Board and Senate, SGA Advisor Danielle Minke said. From 8 a.m., March 20, to 8 a.m., March 21, SGA held their annual spring election to see who would serve their association for the 2024-25 academic year, Minke said.
Those who were not interested in running for a position were asked to show their support by casting a vote, SGA Executive Vice President Myers Mentzer said.
“The needs of the student body fluctuate, so it is important to have leaders that represent the current group of students at that time,” Minke said. “Having annual elections, the student body is able to elect those who they believe will advocate for them in the way they need.”
With SGA campaigning and elections in full swing, the association remains true to their goal of continuing the transparent and cohesive relationship that exists between their executive board and senate SGA Election Official Kimberly Banda said at the March 6 SGA Election Interest Meeting.
SGA Election Campaigning Heats Up
SGA required students who hope to run for a position to attend an interest meeting and a candidates meeting in the weeks leading up to the election, Minke said at the March 6 SGA Election Interest Meeting.
Along with attending meetings, the potential candidates are required to fill out an application packet as well as have a clean record with no academic or disciplinary probations from Seaver College, SGA Election Official Craig Mhlanga said at the March 6 SGA Election Interest Meeting.
The students who completed the application process and met all requirements were allowed to campaign from March 13, after the mandatory candidate’s meeting concluded, until the election began at 8 a.m., on March 20, Mentzer said.
“You’re going to see a lot of social media pushes from different candidates,” Mentzer said. “You’re going to see posters that are up on campus that different students will make to advertise as well as different students tabling.”
Tabling was utilized as a way for candidates to connect with and speak to the student body by setting up a stand in Mullin Town Square and providing information about their campaign, Mentzer said.
“I would say that students that are going to put themselves out there for their campaign have a higher chance of succeeding,” Mentzer said. “Just because our campus is so word-of-mouth based.”
SGA Encourages Student Voting
Campaigning officially ended March 20, at 8 a.m., which coincided with the time that voting opened up.
The voting process was easily accessible through each student’s Pepperdine email from March 20, at 8 a.m., until March 21, at 8 a.m., Mentzer said.
“Students will receive an email into their inbox that is going to say, ‘It’s time to vote for SGA Representatives,’” Mentzer said. “Then there will be a link that will take students to Campus Groups.”
Once students arrived at the electronic ballot, each individual was given the opportunity to vote for one president and three representatives for their Class Senate, which correlates to their graduation year, Mentzer said.
The entirety of Seaver College students had the option to vote for SGA’s Executive Board, which includes the student body president, executive vice president, vice president of administration and vice president of finance, Mentzer said.
The results confirmed three executive board positions with Michael Sugimoto as executive vice president, Joanna Lee as vice president of administration and Julian Mola as vice president of finance, SGA wrote in a March 21 email sent to the student body on March 21.
While the results were solidified March 21, at noon, the elected students do not start working in their position until a later date, Minke said.
“Executive Board members begin in early August,” Minke said. “The members of the Senate begin in September, during the SGA Retreat.”
After the regular election concluded, none of the Student Body President candidates acquired 50.1% of more of the votes casted. This result calls for a runoff election, SGA wrote in the email.
SGA will conduct the runoff election electronically March 27, at 8 a.m., to March 28, at 8 a.m., SGA wrote in the email.
All students will be able to vote by accessing a link that will be e-mailed at 8 a.m., March 27, SGA wrote in the email.
SGA Aspires to Work Cohesively
SGA focuses on transparency between the Executive Board and Senate while each group carries out their own responsibilities, Mentzer said.
The goal of each class senate is to focus directly on the wants and needs of their peers, Mentzer said.
“The Senate is a lot more focused directly on your class, and it’s a lot more of ‘How do we engage on a smaller scale of what things are unique to my class?’” Mentzer said.
On the other hand, the executive board is responsible for the whole student body, Mentzer said.
“On the executive board, you are the one who speaks with administration and who administration thinks of when they think of Pepperdine students,” Mentzer said.
SGA encourages the class representatives to pass advocacy resolutions that will benefit their class, and the SGA Executive Board connects those resolutions to the proper administrators to make the ideas a reality, Mentzer said.
“It takes a lot of time to build relationships with administrators, but this helps the senators further along their resolutions,” Minke said. “We [the SGA Executive Board] kind of give them [the SGA class senators] the resources they need for their advocacy resolution.”
In the 2023-2024 academic year, SGA has seen an increase in cohesiveness between their executive board and senate, Banda said at the March 6 SGA Election Interest Meeting.
“In the past, there has been some lack of communication with the senate and the E-board, so we focused on transparency between the two groups this year,” Banda said at the interest meeting. “I encourage you to keep that same mentality for next year.”
___________________
Follow the Graphic on Twitter X: @PeppGraphic
Contact Emma Martinez via email: emma.martinez@pepperdine.edu
