Elizabethtown College’s Student Senate is preparing for next year by electing new officers to the Executive Cabinet positions. Voting was open to Etown students Tuesday, April 16. Each class consists of 12 members, four cabinet members – a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer and eight class representatives. All students who are enrolled at Etown are qualified to run for one of these positions, as long as they are a full-time student and are not on academic or disciplinary probation.
Junior Robert Graham was elected president. Junior Andrew Herm was elected vice president position. Junior Tyler Kunkle filled the treasurer position and sophomore Caitlyn Whirt was elected secretary.
Ginette Slaughter, the publicity and marketing vice chair, said, “The four candidates selected to be in next year’s executive cabinet could not be better considering their experience, their openness and their genuine passion to advocate for the students. All four speeches allowed those who didn’t know the candidates to fully understand how committed they are to the positions each ran for this year.” She felt that the speeches of the newly elected students were what helped them to win.
The president is in charge of looking over all operations of Student Senate. He makes the executive decisions and is the moderator for all meetings. The vice president assists the president with whatever he may need and fills in when the president is absent. The VP plans the fall and spring retreats and Senate dinners, serves on the Homecoming Committee through the Alumni House, is the Chair of Club Council and attends committee meetings as requested.
The treasurer oversees all monetary allocation of money to clubs who submit budget requests for trips and other events.
This person also handles scholarship money distribution and maintains all accounts Senate has. The secretary takes minutes at each meeting, writing down what each person says. She also tracks attendance for events and meetings and plans the end-of-the-year banquet.
The election process stays the same each year. For Executive Cabinet positions, nominations are given within Senate for those who wish to run. At the next meeting, the body of the Student Senate Executive Cabinet will vote to give that person a “vote of confidence,” which is their way of saying that they feel that person will represent the student body well and deserves to be put on the school-wide ballot. Each nominee then gives a speech at Spring Campaign, which was Monday, April 15 this year. Voting then opens up for students for two days on Blackboard so they can make their selections. In total, only about 140 students voted for this election.
Senior Kristen Lacaillade, vice president of Student Senate’s Elective Cabinet, believes that it is important for students to participate in Student Senate. She said, “This is my 5th semester as part of Student Senate. I have enjoyed all my time being able to make a large difference on campus. Being able to go to meetings and be part of committees that also include faculty and staff offers me the chance to give the student perspective on any situation, which allows students’ opinions to be included in the decision making process that happens on campus every day. I have been lucky enough to see major changes on campus as a result of serving on these committees. Additionally, it is important to be able to advocate for your fellow students so that they are given the same chances to have an incredible experience here at Etown as everyone else.”
Both Lacaillade and Slaughter hope to see some changes with the school for next year’s Executive Cabinet members. They expect the members to try and focus on larger issues that impact a larger amount of the campus and surrounding community. Speaking very highly of next year’s Executive Cabinet, Lacaillade said, “I have all the faith in the world in next year’s Exec Cab to be able to really make a serious impact on the campus as a whole.”