Shashank Murali and Sara Davis will be the new University of Minnesota Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president and vice president for the 2023-24 academic year, according to campus elections results announced Monday.
Murali, a third-year student, and Davis, a second-year student, defeated USG presidential candidate Romello Lloyd and his running mate Salman Linjawi with 84.5% of the 1,193 votes cast.
“It is greatly humbling to know that students have faith and trust in our ability to represent the undergraduate student body,” Murali and Davis said in an email statement to the Minnesota Daily.
Murali and Davis will succeed Flora Yang and Zeke Jackson as USG’s president and vice president. Murali lost to Yang in the 2022 USG presidential election.
Yang congratulated Murali and Davis on being elected in an email statement to the Daily and said as the chief of staff and ranking student representative to the Board of Regents respectively, Murali and Davis have been “fierce champions” for student advocacy initiatives.
“While Zeke and I — as well as the rest of our amazing staff members — have made important strides on a range of campus and community issues, there’s a great deal left to do; Shashank and Sara are exactly the right people to build on that progress,” Yang said.
Murali and Davis said their priorities as the next president and vice president include improving campus safety, affordable student housing and transparency within University governance.
“These positions mean a great deal to the both of us as an opportunity to utilize our USG experience and deliver on our promises for students,” Murali and Davis said. “Going to college at the University of Minnesota has been a wonderful and life changing experience, and we want to ensure that sentiment can be echoed by all current and future attendees.”
Lloyd not elected president but reelected as student senator
The result comes after Lloyd was arrested on March 12 on a felony stalking charge. More than 550 students signed an online petition to remove Lloyd from the ballot leading up to the election.
Lloyd said in an email statement to the Daily he was “not surprised” by the USG presidential election results.
“It’s cool how much fame I earned off this election,” Lloyd wrote in the email statement. “I don’t think I’d have it any other way. Only thing that could’ve made it better is if I won the election.”
Linjawi said in an email statement to the Daily on Tuesday he was unaware of the election results and did not agree to be Lloyd’s running mate on the ballot.
“I am not part of his team, and he put my name as vice president because he had to put someone’s name in order to run for the election, and I and many friends used to go out with him before we knew what he has done to multiple women, but not anymore,” Linjawi’s statement said. “It’s good he did not win.”
Lloyd was one of nine students elected as a Student Senate representative for the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), winning about 9% of the votes. Lloyd is currently serving on the Student Senate for CLA, according to the Student Senate’s website.
Student Senate Chair Pavan Guttipatti said in an email statement to the Daily that Student Senate leadership “is taking these concerning allegations seriously. Due to the sensitivity of this matter, we are limited in what we are able to share at this time.”
For results of all 2023 University student elections, go to the Campus Elections Team’s website.
