Referendum results
Photo courtesy of Geneseo.edu
A hot topic on campus in the first half of this Spring semester was the upcoming Referendum vote. For those unfamiliar, the Referendum is a vote that happens every other spring semester, during which students can vote on whether student activity fees should be mandatory or voluntary. This year, students also had to consider if these funds were mandatory and whether the fee should increase by eighteen dollars.
This year was a voting year and the vote took place from Mar. 3 through Mar. 6. Students who were registered to vote were sent an email with the attached ballot to fill out. Students were encouraged to vote in order to make sure their opinions were heard.
The mandatory fees cover the majority of SA-funded clubs’ financial costs and allow these opportunities on campus to remain running. Without the fees, students would lose access to several of the clubs and activities around campus. This is why an abundance of students feel very strongly about raising the price of mandatory fees.
All across campus, students were advocating for the Referendum to pass. There were a plethora of posts to be found on social media apps alongside signs around campus.
Some of the activities covered by Mandatory Student Activity Fees are the Art Club, Club Baseball, Men's Club Basketball, Geneseo Late Knight, Geneseo Model UN, GOLD Leadership, The Lamron, Merit Awards, Quiz Bowl, Springfest, Student Senate, Student Association Ticket Office, and so much more.
1409 out of 3633 qualifying students voted in the Referendum ballot, which amounts to 38.8 percent of the voter pool. 92.1 percent, which accounted for 1297 students, voted for student activity fees to remain mandatory, while the remaining 112 voters voted for them to become voluntary. Furthermore, 88 percent of students voted for the fee to be raised to 125 dollars, and the other 12 percent opted to vote for the fee to remain at 107 dollars.
In an email sent out by Student Association (SA) President Orquidia Geraldino on Mar. 12, it was even stated that “[They’re] thrilled to share that we set a new record for voter participation this year….” This shows how the different tactics, like the Referendum games and duck hunt —an on-campus scavenger hunt with monetary prizes— helped to get the word out about the election and encourage higher turnout in the student body’s voting habits.
The fees, however, are not the only thing that students have the opportunity to vote for during the Referendum. Students also had the opportunity to vote for SA executive board (e-board) members, which allowed them to have an opinion on who was making the final financial decisions regarding this increased influx in mandatory fee funds.
The position of Student Association President went to Lucas Pastwik, who received 96.6 percent of student votes. Jason Tolevski was elected as the Student Association Vice President and also received 96.6 percent of the votes.
Colin Henley received 97.9 percent of the votes, which secured his win in the Director of Business Affairs position for another year. The Director of Academic Affairs will be Sam Scamardo, who also won 97.9 percent of the votes. The new Director of Inter-Residence Affairs is now Hannah Loughner.
Sarah Feik has won the place of Director of Student Programming. The new Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness is Samantha Canter, a write-in candidate who still was able to garner a good amount of votes. Avinash Gopal will be the Director of Student Affairs with 98.9 percent of the votes. Lastly, Aoife Fitzgerald is now the Director of Public Relations with 98.4 percent of student votes.
Overall, a majority of the campus is very pleased with the news of this Referendum passing. It’s because of these votes that students will have the SA continuing to work hard to listen to student voices and help fund programming that this school has voted towards supporting and valuing. This past voting period shows how much individuals’ votes matter and how they can make a difference.