The “For U” ticket is the newly elected 2015-16 SG executive board. Brianna Hathaway was elected president with 60 percent of votes, Ishtpreet Singh as vice president with 60 percent of the votes and Robert Renfro as treasurer with 58 percent of the votes.
Student Government (SG) election results were announced at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Rock. This year brought a record-breaking amount of votes in University of Miami history, with a total of 2,934 votes in comparison to last year’s 1,951.
Along with executive board decisions, a referendum to increase the student activities fee by $1 for Scientifica, UM’s science magazine, was disqualified because the required forms were not submitted by the Wednesday morning deadline, said Aqeel Khanani, SG elections chair.
Scientifica is appealing the decision, and a hearing will be held Thursday night, Khanani added. If the disqualification is reversed at the appeal, then the voting results would be taken into effect.
Eight students were also elected to serve on SG Senate. Byron Hazzard and Manish Kuchakulla for the College of Arts and Sciences, Tomas Cacicedo for the College of Engineering, Zoe Kafkes for the School of Communication, Katie Thompson, Rachel Mesa and Candice Johnson for the commuters, and Kierin Mukerjee for the School of Business. They will be sworn in next week.
“For U” candidates and supporters were excited to find out the news.
“It’s an incredible achievement for us all, and we couldn’t be happier to have been chosen as the next student leaders to implement new initiatives and positive change for the University community,” said Ishpreet Singh, vice president-elect. “Being elected by students to represent them in interactions and meetings with higher administration and official University capacity is an incredible honor.”
Treasurer-elect Robert Renfro shared similar sentiments.
“I was very nervous up until the announcement,” he said. “My legs are still shaking and I’m really excited for next year.”
The other ticket on the ballot was “Upgrade.” Juniors David Storch, Reem Najjar and George Spohr ran for the positions of president, vice president and treasurer, respectively.
Storch says he plans on getting involved with SG to help make a difference.
“I think there’s still a lot of improvements to be made on campus,” he said. “However, ‘For U’ will make a difference and maximize the potential of our school. I’m very excited to see what they do with the school.”
Erika Glass and Alexander Gonzalez contributed to this report.