Elections for 18 Student Senate positions at Shippensburg University kicked off yesterday via student email. Only eight candidates are facing competition, out of the total 19 on the ballot.

Every year, 20 senator positions are up for grabs, excluding the four executive officer positions. The offices include two representatives for each class, one for each of the three colleges and nine for the five student life categories.

The freshman class for the next academic year will vote for their two representatives in the 2015 fall semester.

Though 27 students turned in their applications to run for office, only 18 students spoke last Thursday in the Red Zone at the Ceddia Union Building to give their mandatory campaign speeches.

While the forum was public it was not announced on the SU website, nor was it posted in the Ship news and events emails sent out to students weekly. The candidates outnumbered the audience approximately 3 to 1.

Two candidates were excused from giving speeches, and two Greek Life candidates pre-recorded their speeches, which were viewed via a projector.

Eleven candidates are running unopposed, but write-in votes are accepted.

The five student life categories include two senators for the Residence Hall Association, Greek Life, Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) and athletics, while non-traditional students receive one senator for representation.

Every candidate running for a student life position is unopposed, except for Greek Life, where three candidates are running. There is no opposition for the class positions.

Candidates running for the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Business positions are facing competition, but there are no candidates running to represent the College of Education and Human Services.

Student Senate president-elect Dominic Giovanniello moderated the speeches in the place of president Nicholas Johnson, who was unable to attend.

Every candidate was subject to questioning — a task that was mostly conducted by Giovanniello and senator Justin Schneider.

A common theme of their questions related to how the candidates would distribute the budget to campus clubs if elected.

“I know I sound like a broken record,” Giovanniello said, just before asking a budget-related question. Many of the candidates were unable to give complete responses about how they would allocate funds.

2016 class candidate Shaun Smith said he would have to do further research on the topic before giving an answer — a response Giovanniello approved.

Candidate speeches typically included an announcement of their name, declaration of candidacy and a few general claims as to why they want to be a senator. Amongst the usual speeches, a few unique ones stood out.

“I don’t fear anybody,” Caitlin Dull, who is running to represent the College of Arts and Sciences, said. She expressed her willingness to discuss campus issues honestly with anybody, citing a time she approached an SU dean to talk about her concerns with the controversial tuition pilot program.

One candidate used humor to catch the audience’s attention.

“I enjoy piña coladas and dancing in the rain,” Trent Bauer, a candidate to represent SU athletics, said. He went on to quote the Rebecca Black song “Friday,” and received a round of applause and laughter.

Jacqueline Joseph, who is running to represent the College of Business, held a serious and focused tone during her speech.

“Every moment is a teachable moment,” she said, adding that college is a place to further one’s education.

Samantha Hartey, who is a current class of 2017 senator, is running again to represent her class. Hartey had her actions during the last academic year to speak for her. Hartey sits on the food services committee and was responsible for getting the Chloe’s fruit dessert machine in the CUB cafeteria.

Hartey also wants to create an innovative bus route to better utilize public transportation in the area.

Arnold Taylor Jr. and Marcus Watkins are running to fill the two MSA seats, and they both agreed as senators they would encourage all students, regardless of their racial identity, to join MSA.

“[Non-traditional] students are not very well represented on campus,” Charles Pfeiffer, a candidate for the non-traditional seat, said. He hopes to help traditional students understand the needs of non-traditional students and distinguish them from professors.

“I try to keep the peace and foster friendships,” Pfeiffer said.

The polls will be closed on Thursday at 4 p.m., and the results are expected to be announced by Friday.

Share