Lara Avsar, BC ’11, was elected president of the Student Government Association on Friday in an election that saw greater voter turnout than last year.
Avsar, the current junior class president, beat Dueaa Elzin, BC ’11, for the seat. Elzin, who spent the semester abroad, campaigned from London.
Avsar will be joined on the SGA executive board by newly elected vice president Bridgit Donnelly, vice president of student activities Megan Shannon, vice president of communications Diana Rastegayeva, and vice president of finance Priyata Patel, all BC ’11.
This year marked an increase in voter turnout for the SGA elections, with 48.8 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots. Last year, voter turnout was 41.5 percent.
The sophomore class council featured more competition, with Andrea Buhler, current first-year class president JungHee Hyun, and Alicia Serrani, all BC ’13, running for sophomore class president. Hyun beat out her competitors.
Avsar attributed the high level of first-year interest in SGA to the new presence of a student center.
“The seniors now had McIntosh, and the first-years have the Diana,” Avsar said. “Having a student center is key to community involvement, and it should continue to increase.”
Donnelly said she thought this year’s meal plan task force, where students brought their concerns about the new meal plan requirement directly to administrators, played a role in candidate recruitment.
“I think a lot of people coming out of that wanted to run for SGA,” she said.
Julia Kennedy, BC ’13, ran unopposed for sophomore class vice president, while Nora Feinstein, BC ’13, became sophomore class secretary, beating out Adrianna Aguilar.
Upperclassmen councils saw far less competition.
Reni Calister, Doris Domoszlai, and Marisa Franklin, all BC ’11, ran unopposed for senior class president, senior class vice president, and senior class secretary, respectively. Mitzi Steiner, BC ’12 and current sophomore class representative, and Maria Russo, BC ’12, won after uncontested runs for junior class president and vice president, respectively.
While Avsar said she was focused on “smaller changes” at Barnard for the time being, she anticipated facing the ongoing SGA debate about sorority recognition, an issue that made it onto many candidates’ platforms this year. Ten percent of the student body at Barnard participates in Greek life, and Barnard students make up about half of the campus Greek life population in general, though the council does not officially recognize sororities. Avsar said she hopes to assemble a focus group to examine the issue.
“The Barnard constitution says that it cannot recognize a secret society, and it also says that SGA club recognition does not recognize dues-paying groups,” Avsar said. “I think right now it’s important to bridge the gap between sororities and student government at Barnard.”
“We definitely want to address it and hear all sides of the situation before making a decision,” Donnelly agreed.
While perhaps the most visible arena for student feedback at Barnard this year—the meal plan task force—was instituted by administrators, Donnelly said SGA members wanted to continue to provide a space for students to voice their concerns.
“I think we still want to continue to reach out to students … see what their thoughts are, regardless of whether it’s institutionalized or not,” she said.
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