Courtesy of USF
By Sofía García Vargas
The University of South Florida Student Government (SG) elections start this week, with candidates campaigning from Feb. 14 to March 3 and voting running from Feb. 28 until March 3.
For the St. Petersburg campus, 13 candidates are running for senate, governor, campus council and lieutenant governor positions.
Campus council and senator representatives are expected to participate in decision-making processes during SG meetings, manage campus budget allocations, communicate with campus constituents and conduct audits of student organization events funded by activity and service fees.
Candidates for the St. Petersburg campus are the following:
- Elizabeth Olson for senate.
- Joshua Rampertab with running mate Sean Schrader for lieutenant governor.
- Kaiya Huggins with running mate Nathan Poinsette for lieutenant governor.
- Nathan Poinsette with running mate Kaiya Huggins for governor.
- Sean Schrader with running mate Joshua Rampertab for governor.
- Kenneth Bright with running mate Zackery Morales for campus council, senate and governor.
- Courtney Dalton for campus council and senate.
- Nathan Tout-Puissant for campus council and senate.
- Allison Richards for campus council and senate.
- Lorguens Saintelien for campus council and senate.
- Zackery Morales with running mate Kenneth Bright for campus council and lieutenant governor.
- Matthew Ibarra for campus council.
- Trayton White for senate.
If elected, candidates running for two or more positions must choose which position they prefer to fill.
Elections this spring will also determine the next student president and vice president of the university.
Both presidential candidates currently hold SG positions at the Tampa campus. The candidates are:
- Deputy Chief Financial Officer Nithin Palyam with Relations Committee Chair Amy Pham.
- Finance Committee Chair Truong Tran with Circuit Court Associate Judge Rughved Brahman.
Both the Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses hold one gubernatorial ticket each this election, holding an uncontested run for both campuses. Tampa’s candidates are Joseph Cipriano and Sen. Gabrielle Henry and Sarasota-Manatee’s are Deputy Chief of Staff Evelyn De Oliveira and Assistant Director of Marketing and Promotions Madison Sosa.
St. Petersburg campus students will have the opportunity to attend a Meet the Candidates event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 16 on the University Student Center lawn to get to know the candidates running for president, governor, senate and campus council.
A presidential debate will be held at 7 p.m. at Tampa’s Marshall Student Center oval theater on Feb. 17 and a local debate will be held on the week of Feb. 21 with more details to come, according to Supervisor of Elections Savannah Carr.
