The results from this weekend’s all-campus elections offer a promising future for student leadership posts at all academic levels.
At the undergraduate level, Joelle Stangler won a rare second term as Minnesota Student Association president. Clearly, the fact that she ran for a second year leading the advocacy group shows a dedication to her work and to the University of Minnesota.
Since she took office last school year, Stangler has made MSA more visible on campus and has taken great strides to make the University’s sexual assault awareness and prevention systems better than ever before.
While the campaign did bring to light certain issues within MSA and her work, we are confident and hopeful Stangler will address students’ concerns.
Graduate and professional students’ advocacy groups will be different next year, as the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly will split into two organizations.
Kyle Kroll won the spot to lead a new, unnamed group representing professional students, and graduate students will still be represented by the Council of Graduate Students.
The Editorial Board has previously encouraged GAPSA to consider restructuring in this way, and we look forward to seeing this new system better serve students.
Perhaps the most positive aspect of the elections was voter turnout, which was double last year’s numbers.
Student government groups are essentially advocacy organizations, which means their leadership posts must be elected by as wide a group of people as possible.
We hope new leadership takes this to heart when considering their work next year.
