Paige Bailey
Writer
A sparse crowd made up primarily of current Bucknell Student Government (BSG) members gathered in the Gallery Theater on Nov. 14 as candidates promised greater transparency and student attendance if elected to the executive board for the new year. The executive board is comprised of a President, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Finance and a Vice President of Administration. Each leader has a critical role to play as a liaison between the executive branch and the Student Congress.
Executive board members from the current term, President Dotun Odewale ’13 and VP Finance Mo Karam ’13, moderated an hour-long debate the night before the election. This forum gave each candidate a chance to talk about their individual leadership experiences, records of achievement and plans to move BSG forward.
Two out of the seven people running for positions have never been involved with BSG, but said that they would seek to improve relations between the wider student body and the executives by making decisions more transparent. One candidate, in fact, said greater transparency would be his “number one goal.” BSG representative Jared Lowenthal ’15 said that he thinks these “people from outside of BSG would provide good insights and opinions if elected.”
Similarly, even current members agreed that through transparency there would be greater student awareness of BSG proceedings. While transparency was never defined in an extensive way, it is clear that all the candidates hoped to increase attendance and interest in the initiatives that BSG puts forth.
BSG member William Persing ’15 said he was “glad to see people passionate about serving the school.” Persing also said that overall, being on the BSG executive board is a “big position” and members are “not given enough credit.”