Interim vice president of the Student Government Association, Toluwani Adeniyi, shares his goals and plans to improve the relationship between SGA and the community.
Adeniyi’s priority is rebuilding trust and engagement between SGA and the student body at CCSU.
“My main agenda, and I say this to everyone, is that I just want to rebuild our community,” Adeniyi said. “I want to set a precedent that the SGA is not for ourselves. We are for the people. They can feel comfortable to come and talk to us. They can feel comfortable enough to come to the meetings. They can come to the committees.”
The SGA elected Adeniyi during its weekly senate meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 21, after former vice president of the SGA, Luke DeAngelis, stepped down in early February due to personal reasons.
It took several attempts for the SGA to determine a winner of the race for interim vice president between Adeniyi and Senator Neemit Thammaracksa.
The first attempt resulted in a tie, so a second attempt was initiated. In the second attempt, Adeniyi defeated Thammaracksa by a single vote. Adeniyi expressed surprise and happiness at his election.
“When I got voted in, I was like, wow, people see what I’m doing outside, and they were telling me, ‘That role fits you well.’” Adeniyi said.
Adeniyi said it was important for the SGA to have a vice president to move forward.
“I think now we can finally keep that agenda of trying to keep us together,” Adeniyi said. “Because without a vice president and someone overseeing internal affairs, there’s really no one that can be that glue in a sense to make sure that we’re on top of things, that there’s no problems and everybody is on a good standing.”
Adeniyi said the importance of a vice president, regardless of who it is, provides relief for senators who need someone to talk to and rely on for support.
“I think, finally, having someone who is able to hold that position, even if it was me or if it was someone else, just someone to be able to fill that position, it’s a relief for all the senators that they have someone that they can go and talk to,” Adeniyi said.
Reflecting on the former vice president of SGA, Luke DeAngelis, Adeniyi expressed that he and other senators are sending DeAngelis their best wishes and still consider him a close friend of theirs, he said.
