Spencer Gilbert elected as SGA president, Abbey Partika to be VP
Stephen Lumetta
News Editor
While the country is paying attention to the presidential elections, The College of Wooster student body went to the digital polls to select its Student Government Association (SGA) executive board for the 2016-17 school year.
Students chose Spencer Gilbert ’17 for president, Abbey Partika ’17 for vice president, Elizabeth Kantra ’17 for secretary and Lauren Pugliese ’17 for treasurer. Partika and Pugliese ran unopposed for their positions.
Turnout was one of the highest for an SGA election in recent years, according to outgoing SGA president Sunny Mitra ’16: 403 students voted in the executive board election.
While there was suspicion surrounding the legitimacy of some votes last year, Mitra, who administered the election, monitored this year’s voting closely.
“This time, I made sure that people had to login with their Wooster credentials and could only vote once,” said Mitra.
Gilbert and Partika have big hopes for the upcoming year.
“Accessibility issues,” said Gilbert, when asked to name a big issue he hoped to work on. “It’s an issue that is always on my mind: accessibility of our buildings, our campus, our spaces. Of the issues we’re not talking about enough, that’s probably my biggest one.”
Partika said campus climate was an issue that needed to be addressed.
“We have seen too many incidents lately that do not uphold Wooster’s standards. Safety and issues of comfort and inclusion need to be solved so that we can strengthen our campus community and live up to all the brochures about student life at Wooster,” said Partika.
Both Gilbert and Partika mentioned that they hoped to continue building relationships between SGA and the campus community.
“I really want to see SGA continue to grow our voice and continue to grow our relationships. I want to see how we can be more of a help to students but also be more of a help to our faculty and staff members. I want us to be a bridge between students and those other groups on campus,” said Gilbert.
Partika, echoing those statements, said, “I also hope that SGA, as a student-run group, can continue to improve its relations with students and also with administrators. We are here for the student body, to better our campus, and I want all students to know that and feel comfortable approaching us with concerns.”
Gilbert also praised Mitra, saying “I really just want to continue the trend that Sunny started. I think we’re in a really good place right now.”