On Tuesday, Sept. 26, the Fairfield University Student Association hosted their senatorial election for the Class of 2021, which saw first-year students vote upon a group of a total of eight candidates who ran for office to represent their fellow peers and the greater Fairfield University community.
Those who were in the running for their class senate positions were Luckario Alcide, Joseph DiAcetis, Nasser Eljamal, Noelle Guerrera, Ali Haidar, Angelica Miceli-Kaya, Meagan Morelli and Armando Mujica.
The final results ended up being that Eljamal won the presidency, whilst Alcide, Haidar, Guerrera and Miceli-Kaya won the four senatorial positions.
The candidates had a wide range of platforms aimed at potentially improving the University community, but some of the key ideas that were unilaterally mentioned by those running ranged from “making sure that the class of 2021 is closer together and leaving Fairfield better than they found it,” said FUSA Chief Justice Matthew Marshall ‘19.
The candidates also had ambitions to help their fellow classmates to “better understand the Fairfield University environment,” Marshall noted in reference to the importance of getting freshmen acclimated to the college experience.
The winner, Eljamal, in particular had expressed that, “First, I want the class of 2021 to be the greatest class to graduate from Fairfield University, but on top of that, I want to bring our class together. I also want to have as many events as we can for us to bond as a class, build new friendships, learn more about each other and hear the voices of the kids in our grade.”
Furthermore, he alluded to the reasons as to why he believed he was qualified for the position of presidency.
He stated that, “During high school, I was in student government for three years, sophomore year as a representative, junior and senior year I was class president … I started a couple of new clubs, I was the leader of my crew team senior year, led us to the championship, I was in three business clubs in my school, one being future business leaders of America.”
In addition to the consensus among the candidates that the class of 2021 should be a part of a more connected, unified community, the candidates all made it clear in their platforms that they had the will to stand up and advocate for the issues most important to their peers. The candidates all aim to work hard and do a great deal toward community-building while “being able to have fun at the same time,” Marshall said.
FUSA encompasses a wide variety of positions in addition to student government, with broad goals as an organization that collectively advocate for issues such as diversity and the inclusion of all students, as well as the improvement of various aspects of the school such as what is offered in terms of dining, technology and so on, as per Orgsync.
According to Marshall, “Marketing events, planning events, things like the senate and student government, and diversity inclusion” are all a part of FUSA, so for getting involved, there is no shortage of opportunities for both first year students and the whole Fairfield University community alike.
Students were able to cast their votes up until 7 p.m. on Sept. 26 on Orgsync. For all future FUSA elections, voting is always conducted in that manner and in terms of finding the candidates’ platforms, one would go on Orgsync to find out.
The importance of voting was greatly emphasized by Marshall in the sense that one would not solely be supporting their peers and solutions to the issues concerning their class, but would collectively realize that, “voting is your civic duty,” as per Marshall, even when it comes to local student government elections.
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