About 100 people waited in the Tavern Tuesday night to hear the results of the spring elections. Cheers filled the room as Comptroller-elect David Teslicko, Secretary-elect Alex Manzanares, Vice President-elect Jeffrey Hanley and President-elect Joe Vidulich were announced the winners of the Student Government's executive positions.
After his win all Vidulich, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, could say was "wow." Elected SG president with 49.9 percent, he said he was "glad how many people turned out to vote."
Overall, 1,661 people cast ballots, a small decrease from last year's turnout.
Vidulich also thanked his opponents, Ben Dwertman, a junior in SPA, and John Eric Lingat, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, saying Dwertman brought the election to a local effort and Lingat addressed some real issues.
Conceding, Lingat said he plans to "support the Student Government as always and raise AU's spirit in my own way."
Dwertman said he "would like to extend a genuine and enthusiastic congratulations to Joe." Mentioning Vidulich's time and effort spent on the presidential campaign Dwertman said "he certainly deserves it."
In the end, Dwertman received 22.3 percent of the vote while Lingat received 22.9 percent.
Hanley, a sophomore in SPA, said "a great group of guys just got elected." Hanley won his uncontested race for SG vice president with 94.3 percent of the vote.
Vidulich said he plans to work on creating more diverse student involvement during the transition period.
"Right now, we're four men," he said. "This is not reflective of our campus."
Vidulich said he plans to engage more students in SG activities by reaching out to as many student groups as possible.
Pointing to the shower head incident, he also said talking to students before taking action is important.
"We need to have a discussion about where we want this campus to go," he said.
Winning his uncontested race for SG comptroller with 96.7 percent of the vote Teslicko, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said he was "looking forward to working, I think it is going to be a very productive year."
After receiving the credit-waiver, Manzanares, a freshman in the School of Communication, received 63.8 percent of the vote in the election for SG secretary. Daiva MacKenzie, a junior in CAS, received 33 percent.
Manzanares said he was "excited" to start working and that the newly elected gentlemen are a "great group" that he "knows very well."
Also announced were the winners in the school and class council elections.
Many of the school council positions were left vacant. Sophomore Carrie Johnson won the SPA presidency, sophomore Steven Dorsey is the new SOC president, sophomore Leah Gates was elected SIS president, junior Justin Bridges won the Kogod School of Business presidency and CAS had no elected council members. Also winning were freshman Mary Penfield for SIS vice president and junior Giedre Sivokaite for Kogod secretary.
In the Class of 2008, Kogod student Danielle Nash was elected president while SIS student Sarah Haney was elected vice president with SPA student Mike Pasko as secretary and SPA student Tamara Alfred as comptroller.
In the Class of 2009, SOC student Samya Behary was elected president and SIS student Raissa Calderon was elected secretary. The race is still pending for the class' vice president.
In the Class of 2010, Kogod student Joel Croft was elected president, SPA student Alexx Bant vice president, SPA student Vered Shpigel secretary and SPA student Kristie Cole comptroller.
Eagle Staff Writer Ali Goldstein
contributed to this report.
