On Tuesday, the Engage Slate was announced the winner of the Student Government (SG)’s executive election in a three-way race. Engage received 430 votes, triumphing over the runner-up Independence Slate by 16 votes. Out of 430 votes, 376 came from the College, with 57, 160, 81, 51 votes from the Classes of 2020 to 2023 respectively.
Engage, comprising President Raven Rainey, Vice President of Student Life Myles Hudson, and Vice President of Administration Alex Levi, all third-years, will head SG in the 2020-21 school year.
The slate ran on a platform of increasing support for marginalized students, vowing to create a Committee of Marginalized Student Affairs (COMSA), which would function as an alternative funding pipeline for cultural RSOs. In addition, Engage has promised to connect student activists from groups like UC United with the administration.
Facing the possibility that fall quarter might remain remote, the slate has laid out a COVID-19 response plan that addresses student needs, especially those of first-generation low-income (FGLI) students. The slate’s initiatives include negotiating to extend pay for student workers, communicating with students about available federal or state unemployment benefits, and prioritizing directing resources to FGLI students.
Engage has also emphasized helping incoming FGLI students to integrate into campus life.
Engage plans to mandate sexual misconduct prevention workshops for all RSOs. On the issue of Greek-life recognition, Engage’s approach will combine pressuring the administration to recognize Greek life and make improvements in sexual misconduct prevention in other areas.
During the election, Hudson faced sexual-misconduct allegations which he confirmed and apologized for later in a statement. “During my first year, I danced or attempted to dance with two separate men without their consent….The morning after each incident, I apologized to both individuals via text. I wanted them to know how disgusted I was at myself for making them uncomfortable,” Hudson wrote in the statement.
Third-year Itzel Velázquez is elected Undergraduate Board of Trustees with 698 votes, a nearly two-to-one margin to the second-place candidate.
