Faruk wins SGA election

By the end of the semester, Ali Faruk, executive director of the Student Government Association, will reign as Monroe Park’s student body president. Alongside him, Megan Shandelson will assist as the newly elected vice president, while Kaitlin Bowles will direct university relations for the association.

“I think we won because we had the best team,” Faruk, a sociology major, said. “We complement each other really well.”

After the three-way race with Sens. Bruce Vann and Tyler Bass, Faruk beat the competition with 1,273 student votes of the total 2,956. Vann of the School of Business placed second with 1,077 votes, and Bass of the College of Humanities and Sciences trailed with 540 votes.

Nusrat Chowdhury, director of SGA elections, said 30 percent more voters turned out for this year’s elections contrasted to last year’s 1,624.

Michael Perkins, deputy chief justice of SGA’s judicial branch, said the elections committee knew the unofficial results by Friday, March 10. Because of complaints filed against the candidates, he said, the justices mandated a freeze on the results so they would remain impartial while hearing the cases.

Four cases concerning campaign violations, Perkins said, went to the judicial board, including two against Bass, one against Faruk and one against Justin Greene, a vice presidential candidate.

The judicial board, he said, heard the final two cases March 10.

“That night around 10:30 or 11-after deciding on these two cases-we officially released the unofficial election results,” he said, adding that the official results confirmed Faruk the winner Wednesday, March 29.

Faruk said he never became discouraged because of the violations.

“Unfortunately, it happens every year,” he said. “I’ve been in SGA for a long time. I know all the rules.”

The Faruk, Shandelson and Bowles platform promoted lower tuition, improved health and safety, as well as several other issues that specifically concerned students parking in decks, on the street and giving student commuters a parking priority.

In addition, Faruk’s team plans to immediately implement helping the Senate organize its priorities after taking office. Other projects on the platform, which Faruk said he hopes the team can effect, center around SGA’s visibility in the VCU community, academic advising and the campus-watch program.

Politically, he also plans to continue lobbying state legislators to increase funding for VCU students.

“Some of these are long-term but very realistic goals,” Faruk said. “I don’t see anything standing in our way.”