By Matt Clyburn
Dropping the interim title she’s carried for the better part of this semester, Elizabeth Braun will take on the role of Student Government Association vice president after winning the race against Erika Dawson-Head last week.
Braun defeated Dawson-Head 313 to 174 according to results released by the SGA elections committee last Thursday.
The new SGA treasurer will be Nick Alaimo, who defeated Alex Rodriguez for the position during last week’s elections. Alaimo won by just 41 votes during an election where a total of 556 votes were received April 19 and 20.
Eric Bergenn, running unopposed for SGA president, will assume the position at the final meeting of this semester. Bergenn recently lost a bid to become interim president in the wake of former President Matt Vekakis’ resignation earlier this semester.
Braun is the president of the outing club and the current vice president of Carroll Hall. Following the resignation of former SGA Vice President Chris Kyle in December, Braun was elected interim vice president by the SGA Senate in February.
“I feel relieved and thankful,” Braun told The Recorder Monday. “Relieved that I no longer need to think about the election process and thankful to all the people who supported me, without them I’d just have one vote next to my name.”
Braun said that she has many plans before the start of the fall semester. In addition to welcoming new members of the SGA, Braun intends to plan the summer retreat where elected students attend workshops to prepare them for student government.
“Over the summer, my biggest goal is going to be to create a club liaison program that better bridges the gap between clubs and the SGA,” Braun said. “I’m also going to finish up the SGA website which would include all the information necessary to make SGA more transparent.”
Alaimo praised opponent Alex Rodriguez after the announcement of election results last Thursday, saying that Rodriguez is a “great guy who did a great job and ran a great race; I hope he sticks with SGA.”
“I feel great,” Alaimo said in an interview with The Recorder. “I think we have a good team, we’ll work hard and I hope we’ll work together to improve the SGA. I think we’ll do a good job next year.”
Lawrence Wooten defeated Celeste Roche 233 to 122 for the position of Foundations Representative.
The full list of 2011-12 SGA Senators and number of votes received:
At Large: Ryan Sheehan (339), Ryan Baldassario (259), Chelsea Reagan (228), Shelby Dattilo (223), Jamie Canny (206), and Jamie Germaine (193).
Resident: Hannah Pancak (157), Chris Kyle (153), Evan Robbins (131), Matt Hubbard (118), Legairre Radden (110), Aida Fung (94), Heidy Sanchez (78) and Jeremy Truex (73).
Commuter: Asia Smith (70), Molly A. McLaughlin (70), Lawrence Wooten (69), Ivonne Lopez (67), Sasha Savage (67), Ashley Foy (65), Lindsay Jean-Philippe (65), Conrad Meurice (65), Michael Theodore (58), Isamar Rodriguez (54), Shaun Boughton (54), Jessica Lazu (51) and Jennifer Sirois (49).
Four additional senators will be elected during a special election in the fall.
