Next year’s Student Government (SG) liaisons were revealed Wednesday afternoon, following tightly contested elections. For Community and Government Liaison, first-year Natalie Wang was declared a winner in a two-way race between third-year Rachel Abrams and herself. In the race for Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees, third-year Ridgley Knapp won in a field of three declared candidates: first-year Dinesh Das Gupta, first-year CJ Jones, and himself.
During his campaign, Knapp, the Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees–elect, said he hopes to leverage his experience as president of UChicago College Democrats to serve as a facilitator for dialogue between the student body and the Board of Trustees. As part of his push for a more dialogue between the Board and the student body, Knapp will host public forums with both trustees and students. Additionally, Knapp promised he will push the Board of Trustees to create a fund that would directly benefit clubs and RSOs.
Incoming Community and Government Liaison Wang campaigned to, in her own words, “form a more positive relationship between the University and the Hyde Park community.” To that end, she seeks to host events where UChicago students can interact directly with local communities and promote the work of local South Side artists. Wang also expressed concern for campus sustainability, citing her concern that “the new dorm [Woodlawn Residential Commons] is not going to be LEED-certified,” which, according to the LEED website, means it will not be constructed to maximize occupant health and productivity, reduce waste and negative environmental impacts, and decrease building life cycle costs.
Down the ballot, each undergraduate class also selected their College Council members for the upcoming year. The Class of 2022 will be represented by Zebeeb Nuguse, Dinesh Das Gupta, Aazer Siddiqui, and either John Kunzo or Harry Gardner—both earned exactly 181 votes. The Class of 2021 will be represented by Myles Hudson, Tucker Rivera, Gage Bayless, and Alex Levi. The Class of 2020 selected Sam Joyce, Matthew Petrak, Eugene Miravete, and Mayuri Sharma. The Class of 2023 will elect their College Council for the upcoming year once they arrive on campus next fall.
To break the tie between Kunzo and Gardner, outgoing College Council representatives will vote next week on who will win.
The newly-elected members of Student Government will begin their terms in fall quarter.
