SGA Election Results – The Gleaner

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Words by Gretchen Purvis, Image courtesy of Rutgers–Camden SGA

The Rutgers Camden Student Government Association (SGA) opened its
elections for voting on April 8th until the 12th. Rutgers students voted through Engage to
elect candidates to the SGA’s positions; some candidates ran in uncontested contests.
Students had the opportunity to write in a candidate of their choice for each position on
their ballot.

Candidates elected to the SGA’s Executive Board’s positions are as follows:
Kimberly Lugo, the former vice president, was elected to become the new SGA
president. Shaan Mody was elected to become the new SGA vice president. Jenna
Ahmed is the new SGA secretary. Jessica Toft, the incumbent SGA treasurer, has
previously served as treasurer. Christine Do is the SGA’s new General Assembly of
Organizations (GAO) Chairperson.

Candidates elections to the SGA University Senators positions are as follows: Eva
Chen and incumbent Joseph Lescht were elected to represent the College of Arts and
Sciences. The School of Business will be represented by Nyla Boswell. The School of
Nursing will be represented by Tiera Williams. The Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences will be represented by Assa John. There will be no representative for University
College, as the seat is vacant.

Candidates elected as the SGA’s at-large representatives for each school within
the campus are as follows: the College of Arts and Sciences will be represented by Justin
Bamgboye, Abhinav Kotapati, and Alexander Simone. The School of Business will be
represented by LaRodge Johnson, Taaha Malik, and a vacant seat. The School of
Nursing will be represented by Zaneta Kwapong. The Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences will be represented by Ojobo Agbo Eje. As with the SGA University Senators
election, the University College seat is left vacant.

Voters also approved the ballot’s referendum by a 70% majority (366 voters). The
referendum asked students whether they wanted the university’s endowment funds to
be divested from companies that were either currently receiving profit from, engaged
with, or contributing to governments committing human rights violations (read more
about the referendum here at the SGA’s official statement on Engage:
https://engage.camden.rutgers.edu/news/299929). The referendum was first proposed
during a closed SGA meeting Thursday, April 1st, as part of a university-wide
divestment effort by all campuses’ student governing associations prompted by worries over the conflict in Gaza. The referendum required a simple majority of affirmative votes, as
well as more total student voters than in the previous election, to pass. The SGA will
now be advocating for Rutgers University to divest from the five companies named in
the referendum—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Motorola Solutions, General Electric Co.,
and PGIM-Quantitative Solutions Fund.

In an email to the student body, former SGA President Matthew Brodsky
thanked students for their votes, and congratulated the student body for a high
turnout (this election’s total voter count was 516 students, of the nearly 6,000 students at Rutgers Camden; numbers from enrollment statistics on Rutgers’ official website: https://www.rutgers.edu/about/by-the-numbers).