MSG Senate elections held

Alexis Lovewell, Staff writer

This past week at Mercyhurst University, the Senator Elections took place for the 2021-2022 academic school year.

Students were able to vote for their chosen candidates from April 21 until April 23 on a link that was sent to their Mercyhurst University email. There were several different students that ran for the different positions on the board, but only twenty-two students were chosen.

In order to apply for Senate, you must first fill out an application, which includes selecting what constituency you would like to represent. This is either your class, club or college.

Next, candidates must write a 100-word paragraph about why they want to be a member of Mercyhurst Student Government. Candidates were able to campaign on social media in the days leading up to the election by posting flyers on their Instagram or even just asking people to vote for them in their classes or even when walking around campus.

The ballot is sent out to Mercyhurst emails and then students have the opportunity to pick who they would like to represent that specific constituency.

The election wrapped up at the end of last week, and new senators will be sworn in on Monday, April 26.

Sarah Klein, current Vice President of the Mercyhurst Student Government for the 2020-2021 school year, spoke on the different responsibilities of MSG senators.

“Senators are responsible for attending weekly meetings, usually Mondays at 8:00PM. These meetings alternate between official senate meetings in the MSG Chambers and smaller committee meetings. In addition to weekly meetings, senators are required to complete 10 event credits each semester. This is broken down into 5 elective event credits, 4 surveying credits, and 1 service event credit.”

The different breakdowns of each committee in the Mercyhurst Student Government are Mission & Sustainability Committee, Spirit Committee, University Operations Committee and RCR Committee. The freshman senators hold positions as members of either the Mission & Sustainability Committee or Spirit Committee.

Mercyhurst Student Government Senators play a large role in the different events and activities that are held on campus. They are responsible for making sure these events run smoothly and are exciting and memorable for the students.

The results of this year’s elections are as follows:

The Class of 2022 Senators are Madeline Boorse and Varun Tewari.

The Class of 2023 Senators are Cooper Hicks and Rumeysa Tuzuner.

The Class of 2024 Senators are Hunter Phillips and Katelyn McKean.

The Senators representing Hafenmaier College are Skyela Burgess and Kali Friends.

The Senators representing Ridge College are Julia Stranges and Evan Medvec.

The Senators representing Walker College are Alyssa Otto and Ellen Eisert.

The Senators representing Zurn College are Avery Corriero and Olivia Pericak.

The Academic RSCO Senators are Alexa Karner and Samantha Weber.

The Cultural & Diversity Senators are Lily Smith and Izabella Zenone.

The Recreational & Special Interest Senators are Genevieve Burgess and Mary Danko.

Lastly, Senators who will be representing the Service and Honors are Kaitlyn Low and Karlie Schnauber.

All of these students will begin their roles after they are sworn in on April 26.

As new members are being inducted, some of the senior members are retiring in their positions.

Sarah Klein, who is a senior in MSG is thankful for her time spent at Mercyhurst and in the MSG.

“As I finish up my senior year at Mercyhurst, I’m thankful for my time spent on MSG. I highly recommend that anyone looking to get involved on campus should consider running for Senate.”

Congratulations to all of the incoming Senators. Mercyhurst University students and staff are excited to see what the Senators have planned for the 2021-2022 academic year.