Fall is a hectic time for elections, and one election that often gets overlooked is the election to determine our representatives in our Student Government. The people serving on the Senate of the Stout Student Association, or SSA, serve a vital role in our university by helping to set policies, allocate student funds, and work with Stout administrators and staff to lead UW-Stout into the future.
When full, there are 34 members of the University Student Senate. There are 18 senators-at-large elected by the student body, seven more senators appointed by the president that represent specific portions of the student body, and seven directors serving as the heads of particular councils in the USS. Due to many senators choosing not to run for office or graduating last year, there were a larger-than-average number of spots up for grabs in this fall election. 12 of the 18 senator-at-large seats were available, in addition to the positions of Director of Financial Affairs and Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Those who wished to run for a Senate seat needed to certify their candidacy by submitting 10 signatures from their fellow students, and people running for the Director positions needed to submit 25 signatures.
Once the candidates had secured their required signatures and prepared themselves for the race, voting officially opened on Sep. 17, 2024. After a long week of drumming up votes, the race ended on Sep. 21. A total of 293 votes were counted, or what amounted to a turnout percentage of about 4.2%, assuming a total enrollment of 7,000 students. While that turnout might seem low, it was “quite a surprise and pleasant to see,” as described by SSA President Alex Cluphf. “Student voting in SSA elections always leaves a tinge of disappointment, with the most votes I have personally seen being only around 500 out of the almost 7,000 students on campus.”
In a meeting on Sep. 24, the newly elected senators and directors were officially sworn in. Nine senators-at-large officially garnered enough votes to be granted seats in the Senate. Maya van Hemert ran unopposed in the election of the Director of Financial Affairs. The race for Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion was considerably closer. In a tight race between three strong candidates, Sai Kiran Goli beat Victoria Higgins and Samikshya Bogati by a margin of only 40 votes and was subsequently awarded the position. The new senators were given an orientation on what their roles require and were asked to fill out a form detailing their preferences in their standing committee and shared governance committee placement.
These students will serve until the end of the school year, after which we will have another election to determine who will lead us for the Congress going into next year. There remains a handful of unfilled senator-at-large seats. If students would like to serve, they can reach out to the SSA general email [email protected] for more information. We look forward to seeing these people in their new roles in our Student Government. If you would like to look at the full election results, you can check out the link here: 2024_Fall_Election_Results
