By Dylan Hart
After an hour of discussion and two runoff elections on April 15, the Student Government senate elected its president for the upcoming year.
Alexandria “Lexi” Bishop beat senators Katherine Fishman, Naya Payne and Trevor Martindale in the bid for presidency. She will replace current senate president Tiffany Porcelli this summer.
Bishop was elected to senate alongside nine others in fall 2018. Her responsibilities will include running senate meetings, overseeing the legislative branch and representing the senate in front of all entities.
Bishop, who is a biology major, plans to be a doctor and does not intend to pursue politics after graduation.
The senate election was expected to be a contentious one after the failure of a bill that proposed a new position to increase transparency and outreach.
Alongside Bishop, Fishman will serve as senate president pro tempore, the second-in-command of the senate. Fishman, who was previously the chair for the committee on university research, will replace Hannah Rose Wanless, who was recently elected as student body vice president.
Additionally, SG elected chairs for its four committees:
- Appropriations, which allocates the annual Activities and Services fee budget,
- Policy, which reviews proposed changes to the SG constitution,
- Special funding, which grants one-time funds to student clubs and organizations, and
- University research, which gathers feedback from the student body and either approves or denies club constitutions.
Payne will replace former senator Gregory Cote as appropriations chair, who resigned from SG shortly after the meeting, citing time restraints due to academics.
Senator Veronica Jimenez will replace senator Tyra Warren as policy chair; Martindale will replace Fishman as university research chair, and senator Ariel Duhart will enter her second term as special funding chair.
