New SGA president elected; student turnout low
Less than 3 percent of VCU students voted in the Monroe Park Campus SGA presidential election held last week between March 27 and March 29. A total of 956 of the more than 32,000 students at VCU voted in the online election. Less than 700 students who voted in the Fall election for student senators.
Mark Robinson
Assistant News Editor
Less than 3 percent of VCU students voted in the Monroe Park Campus SGA presidential election held last week between March 27 and March 29.
A total of 956 of the more than 32,000 students at VCU voted in the online election. Less than 700 students who voted in the Fall election for student senators.Senior biology major Jae Lee received 518 votes and will serve as president of the Monroe Park Campus SGA next year.
The voter turnout for the election speaks to the disconnect between the SGA and the student body, Lee said.
“With every election, it’s unfortunate, but it always seems to be a low number (of voters),” Lee said. “It’s a big disappointment when you don’t have a lot of people voting.”
Despite the turnout, Lee said he is more concerned with increasing representation from the different schoolswithin the VCU community than the number of total voters.
The majority of candidates running for office in SGA represent the Collegeof Humanities and Sciences. The engineering and business schools, as well as the School of the Arts, are underrepresented, Lee said.
“Ultimately, it comes down to getting not just higher numbers, but a wider variety of students to hear what otherschools are having issues with,” Lee said.
The SGA will target those schools specifically to increase student participation next year, Lee said.
The Monroe Park Campus SGA advertised the election using social media and by posting flyers around campus. Individual candidates were expected to promote their own candidacy, Lee said. This was the first year president and vice president candidates did not run on the same ticket.
Jamison Lancaster, a junior psychology major, said he saw the advertisements around campus but didn’t participate. A flyer is sufficient at telling people an election is happening, but not enough to persuade a student to vote, he said.
“If more people said ‘It’s important. We need your vote. You’re an important asset to this voting process,’ I feel like more people would be willing to vote,” Lancaster said. “Advertisements are for the broad public, but what about the individual?”
Lee joined the SGA as a delegate his freshman year. He was elected as an SGA senator his sophomore, junior and senior years. At the beginning of this semester, the SGA vice president stepped down. Lee applied to replace him and was chosen to complete the term.
As president, Lee said he hopes to increase transparency between the SGA and student body to improve participation in SGA sponsored events.
One of his top priorities as president, Lee said, will be to promote on-campus safety for students. Complaints about the efficiency of the VCU Escort Service should be addressed, he said. Lee said he hopes to work with VCU Police and VCU Technology Services to install a GPS tracking system for the escort service vans to improve customer service.
The promotion of new library initiatives, like iPad and Nook availability, will be a priority so students can use them in their studies, Lee said.
Lee will succeed current SGA president Asif Bhavnagri, who said the change of leadership marks a new direction for the SGA.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I’m always excited about new thought processes coming into the executive positions,” Bhavnagri said. “(Lee) brings something new to the table that I didn’t. That’s one of the greatest parts of these transition periods.”
