Connor Baird (left), Whitney O’Keefe (center) and Cassidy Delbango are the only three candidates who have qualified for the St. Petersburg campus’ four Senate seats. Courtesy of Connor Baird, Whitney O’Keefe and Cassidy Delbango.
Courtesy of Connor Baird, Whitney O’Keefe and Cassidy Delbango.
By Trevor Martindale
When the newly consolidated Student Government held elections last spring, not enough candidates came forward to fill all the seats in the new system-wide senate and the three new campus councils.
So SG scheduled a special election this week. Students can vote online from Sept. 22 until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 23.
But one special election won’t be enough. Only three candidates qualified for St. Petersburg’s upcoming special election, with two candidates running for Senate and one candidate running for both the Senate and the Campus Council.
Since the Senate is a higher office than the Campus Council, the candidate running for both offices will assume their seat in the Senate. This leaves one remaining vacancy in the Senate and the Campus Council will remain completely empty.
This could pose a problem to activity and service funding (A&S), as the campus councils are supposed to inherit the funding roles of the pre-consolidated Senate funding committees through “interim funding.”
The interim funding process would entail the Campus Council allocating funds in committee meetings and have the funds approved by the Activity and Service Recommendation Committee (ASRC), the federal funding committee.
St. Petersburg Deputy Financial Officer Brandon Castle explained that an empty campus council voids the interim funding process altogether for the time being, handing funding duties directly to ASRC.
“For the meantime ASRC will handle funding,” Castle said. “It will be the exact same process, just with a different committee.”
ASRC has 15 sitting members, with the majority of them from the Tampa campus, meaning Tampa students will be allocating A&S funds for St. Petersburg organizations until the vacancies in the campus council are filled.
St. Petersburg’s lieutenant governor, Isaiah Castle, said SG leaders are disappointed by the shortage of candidates but “completely understanding as to why.”
“It’s a really weird time right now to be a normal student, let alone a student leader,” he said. “We understand that it may be unnerving for students to step out and do something new during a time like this.”
But Castle also urged students to get involved in SG.
“If we want to push our university to be the best it can be and provide for us a college experience that we can remember forever, we have to answer the call to lead,” he said.
For decades, each of USF’s three campuses had its own independent Student Government. But consolidation changed that.
Now, each campus has a governor, lieutenant governor, circuit court and nine-member campus council – which all fall under a system-wide Student Government led by a president, vice president, supreme court and 60-member senate.
The 60 Senate seats are apportioned according to campus populations, and this year, Tampa will have 44 seats; St. Petersburg, nine; and Sarasota-Manatee, seven.
The new SG constitution permits candidates to run for more than one position simultaneously, so on all three campuses there are candidates seeking seats on both the Senate and the Campus Council.
Of the 65 candidates who applied to run in this week’s special election, 50 candidates have qualified to run for Tampa’s 14 vacant senate seats and 26 candidates have qualified to run for its seven vacant Campus Council seats.
Six candidates filed to run in Sarasota-Manatee. Three candidates have qualified to run for its three vacant Senate seats and three candidates have qualified for its five vacant Campus Council seats.
Because St. Petersburg has only three candidates for its four Senate seats, all it takes to get elected is one vote.
St. Petersburg candidate Whitney O’Keefe filed to run for both the Senate and the Campus Council, but if elected, will automatically assume the Senate seat due to its superior standing.
In the contested fall 2019 midterm elections, only 220 St. Petersburg students voted, a 5.22 percent voter turnout.
Meet the three uncontested St. Petersburg senatorial candidates on this week’s ballot:
Connor Baird
Year: Junior
Major: Political science
Baird is running after his term in the pre-consolidated St. Petersburg Senate was cut short by the newly consolidated Student Government.
He is motivated to provide a voice for the St. Petersburg campus.
“My first term I was lucky to make many friends and contacts and loved representing (the) St. Pete campus,” Baird said. “I decided to rerun to continue that representation and to continue to voice St. Pete’s concerns.”
Baird believes his Pinellas County roots and passion for USF St. Petersburg will aid him in representing the student body.
“I’ve lived in Pinellas County my entire life and I’m very proud of where I come from,” Baird said. “My mom was the first graduating class from (the) St. Pete Campus and both my dad and sister graduated from USFSP. I didn’t even apply to another college, I knew I wanted to go to USFSP.”
In his term, Baird is looking to advocate for the interests of the St. Petersburg campus.
“We know we are smaller than Tampa but that does not mean we are less important and I intend to make Tampa understand that, if they don’t already,” Baird said.
Cassidy Delbango
Year: Sophomore
Major: Marine biology
Delbango has never served in Student Government before, but is excited by the prospect of serving the student body.
“I think (Student Government is) a great way to get involved, especially during these hard times where everything is online,” Delbango said.
Delbango believes she will be an asset of the USF St. Petersburg student body.
“I want to represent USFSP because I think it’s important that the student body is heard and I believe I can do a job in being their voice,” Delbango said.
If elected, Delbango wants to help increase student involvement.
“I would like to help the student body feel involved as best as I can since lots of events can’t happen in the traditional sense,” Delbango said.
Whitney O’Keefe
Year: Junior
Major: Psychology
O’Keefe has spent the majority of her college career abroad, limiting her ability to get involved in student life.
“The majority of my freshman and sophomore years at USFSP were remote,” O’Keefe said. “I was taking online classes part-time while living abroad in Italy, England and Australia. I knew that when I returned to St. Pete to be a full-time student I wanted to be more involved with campus organizations.”
In a socially distant semester, O’Keefe figured Student Government would serve her interests and maximize her strengths.
“USFSP offers so many fantastic ways for students to be involved,” O’Keefe said. “I chose Student Government because it would provide me the opportunity to develop my interest in policy-making while meeting other students and improving my community.”
If elected, O’Keefe plans to be transparent with her constituents and take the initiative to heed student concerns.
“I will provide a present ear and an open heart for any and all USFSP students to express concerns about their college experience,” O’Keefe said. “I will actively seek out input from USF St. Pete students and organizations on important matters and I will advocate for those matters in every student government meeting.”
