Next year’s Resident Student Association (RSA) Executive Board will feature a blend of the old and the new thanks to the elections held on April 9 during the organization’s final meeting of the year.
Five current executive board members, including President Theodore Jackson, were reelected. The other three winners are General Council (GC) members new to RSA this year.
Of the five returning board members, only two have more than a year experience with RSA: Jackson and Treasurer Alex DeLucenay. The others - Secretary Laura Dever, General Programmer Megan Fretto and National Communication Coordinator Elaina Armlovich – assumed their positions after a series of resignations earlier this year.
Joining the board will be sophomore Mike Frasca in the role of vice president, freshman Alyssa Scott as one of two general programmers and junior Meghan Bouren as educational programmer.
Elections Commissioner Meg Lentner orchestrated the elections, allowing each candidate to give a statement and later opening a discussion period on the candidates’ qualifications. At that point general council members cast their votes through secret ballots, collected by Advisors Chris Zacher and Amy Farley.
“I feel that the meeting went very well,” said RSA Vice President Steve Salmon, also a Cardinal Courier staff member. “People asked great questions and had great discussion. I feel that General Council did a very thorough job in electing next year’s E-board.”
Jackson, Dever and Armlovich all ran unopposed. Armlovich was the only candidate to gain a unanimous vote during the evening, according to votes released by Lentner during the meeting.
Frasca, a member of the football team, defeated junior Matt Frometa for vice president. He said that football should not conflict with the position and that he gave up being a resident assistant next year to become the vice president of RSA.
Bouren won against junior Mary Garrison for educational programmer.
“I feel I can bring a lot of new ideas,” Bouren said.
Bouren offered ideas for new programs such as a financial aid night and more awareness events on drugs and alcohol.
The closest race was for treasurer, between DeLucenay and junior Bridgette Jones. DeLucenay was not present at the meeting due to a prior commitment and had a statement read by Fretto. He ended up edging Jones 16 votes to 14, while one GC member voted no confidence and two abstained.
The meeting lasted longer than any this year, beginning at 6:33 p.m. and adjourning at 10:55 p.m. Executive board members said this was expected and expressed their gratitude to those that stayed several times during the meeting. Raffles took place and food was provided.
“Although the elections went for four and a half hours, it was successful to providing a new face to RSA,” said general council member John Snyder, the area representative for Ward Hall.
The new E-board is excited for the year to come and sees it as an opportunity to improve RSA.
“I look forward to working with the new board,” said Jackson. “I think we will continue to grow and become a more well-known and stronger organization.”
Armlovich said that the board has plenty of ideas for next year.
“We’re hoping to increase advertising, have better attendance at programs and have more programs that more people would enjoy,” she said.
By Craig Kanalley
cpk9817@sjfc.edu
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