The Student Government Association voted to elect an interim vice president and extend elections during its weekly meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The position of SGA vice president became vacant after the former vice president resigned earlier this semester. Senators Toluwani Adeniyi and Neemit Thammaracksa were the two candidates vying for the position of interim vice president. 

Adeniyi and Thammaracksa were allowed to speak to the senate before the vote, outlining their visions and persuading other members to support them.  

After the voting concluded and the ballots were counted, Adeniyi was declared the winner and appointed interim vice president. Senator Leticia Castro said she was happy to see the issue finally resolved. 

“I think it was one of our more successful meetings when you take into consideration that it did take two previous meetings to decide to vote for a VP and have an interim VP,” Castro said.  

One debate that took place during the senate meeting was on extending the elections for treasurer and vice president, as not enough candidates were running for the positions.  

Senator Danaiyla Mendoza motioned to extend the elections by two more days, but the motion failed after a vote. Castro’s motion to table the discussion on extending the elections to Internal Affairs passed as Senators could not come to an agreement.  

Senator Amya Smith, chair of the Student Issues Committee, said that extending the elections might not help as it did not address the underlying issues keeping students from wanting to run in the first place. 

“I’m not surprised that we don’t have people rushing to run for election and I am unsure if moving the dates will help,” Smith said. “Students widely don’t trust the SGA because of past SGA’s. They also feel that the SGA is disconnected from the students. That it’s like an exclusive club.” 

Castro said that the SGA must remain united and find better ways to connect with and advertise itself to the broader student body at Central. 

“I think that we need to add a face to the name. We need to just stand together as senators,” Castro said.

Castro said that last semester they discussed conducting events including a town hall to help boost engagement and awareness between SGA and the rest of the CCSU students.

“Tabling would be a great option,” Castro said. “We mentioned last semester even doing a town hall where you can meet your senators and your executive board, just so students are aware that we are also students. We’re not a secret society.”

Another vote took place on temporarily reducing senate members’ required office hours from three hours to two. The motion, which would only apply to this semester, was passed. 

The Student Government Association meets every Wednesday at 3:05 p.m. in the Bellin room of the Student Center, with the next meeting taking place on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The meetings are open to all Central Connecticut State University students and faculty.