Elections and campaigns are coming soon to Asbury as numerous positions within student government are up for election.
Asbury’s student government aims to improve students’ lives in numerous ways through proposals, initiatives and events. Every spring semester, ASC will hold elections for both Executive Cabinet (EC) and class cabinet.
The Executive Cabinet is comprised of the Student Body President, Vice President of Student Governance Association, Vice President of Clubs and Congress, Vice President of Student Intercultural Programs, Vice President of Spiritual Life Board, Executive Treasurer and Executive Publicist.
In addition to EC, positions for class cabinet will be open for election as well. These positions include President, Vice President, Student Intercultural Program representative, Publicist, Treasurer and Activities Director.
“Students have the opportunity to make their voice known,” said student body president Zachary Fazio. “That’s what student government is about, at the end of the day, the university allows us to exist and to exercise our voice, and that’s the huge importance of student government.”
In order for students to run, they must attend the interest meeting, have a GPA of 2.5 or higher, have signatures from the registrar’s office and the Student Development’s office to verify their GPA, sign a statement of faith with the university and receive approval via the VP of Student Government Association (SGA). Students must also receive signatures from fellow class members. For the Executive Cabinet positions, students must receive 50 signatures, and for class cabinet, students must receive 25 signatures.
Despite the lengthy requirements necessary to run, prior experience is not on the list.
“The best kind of people that serve are the people not caught up in the bureaucracy and that step in and be like, ‘Okay, why are we doing things this way,’” said Fazio.
For applications, the due date is Feb. 4 and everything must be turned in to Ashton Montgomery. Students will then have from the time they turn in the applications to Feb. 11 to campaign. Executive Cabinet speeches will be in chapel on Feb. 11, and speeches for class cabinet will be held the evening of the 11. Donuts and stickers will be provided for students after chapels.
Although running for class cabinet or Executive Cabinet are direct ways to become involved on campus, they are not the only avenues students can take. There are numerous positions within larger parts of ASC, such as the Student Intercultural Program board or the Students Governance Association, that will be open after elections. These appointed positions are additional ways students can become involved in student government if they do not have the time to commit to larger roles.
“Students talk about these things a lot, but in order for anything on campus to continue to improve, students have to take steps to improve those things,” said Montgomery. “Student government is the biggest advocate and the biggest voice for student needs, and so for those who want to make their voice heard, and have areas on campus that they feel passionate about, voting is honestly the first step to seeing those things happen.”More details, such as the post-election celebration party, are coming soon. If students cannot make it to the meeting, they can email for a time with Ashton Montgomery or Zach Fazio. Their emails are ashton.montgomery@asbury.edu and zacharyfazio@asbury.edu.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Goul.
