The rain came down on Sept. 25 as the winners of the Fairfield University Student Association Senatorial election for the class of 2022 and the special election for the class of 2019 were announced. What was meant to be a celebration at The Levee in honor of the announcement became only a mass email sent with the results.
A massive storm hit Fairfield University, causing classes and activities after 6:45 p.m., including the party that was supposed to be held that evening, to be called off. The results consisted of five new members from the first-year class and one from the senior class being elected to the senate.
Last year only four seniors were elected to the senate, and therefore the special election was held to fill the fifth seat.
The special election consisted of only one candidate from the class of 2019. Michael Clarkson ran unopposed and won with 89 votes.
He said, “I’m surprised I won, there was some tough competition. I hope to give back to the Fairfield U community as much as possible.”
Clarkson hopes to coordinate transportation for students who live at the beach but do not have cars. He believes that this, along with carpooling, would help the University become more environmentally friendly. Beach transportation was also highlighted during the FUSA presidential election last spring. FUSA President Danielle Rice ‘19 wanted to implement a safe rides home program for students coming back to campus from the beach.
The five first-years elected to the senate consisted of Tyler Heffern, Jack Stalzer, Sarah Bowden, Amelia Kedik and Alexander Vulcano.
FUSA announced that there was a discrepancy in the voting system. According to the mass email sent, “There was an issue with the logic of the online class of 2022 OrgSync ballot that affected five voters, they were prompted to submit an additional write-in candidate despite not having cast a vote for a write-in candidate.”
The FUSA Court made the executive decision to count the candidates that the five voters that were affected by this discrepancy chose, not the write-ins.
First- year Tyler Heffern is a politics major from Stratford, Conn. who hopes to create change and better not only his class but also the University. Heffern expressed how honored he feels to be a part of the FUSA Senate this year.
Heffern said, “I am excited to begin work to fulfill some of my campaign commitments, including installing water bottle fillers in every first-year residence hall and ensuring the maintenance of all on-campus WEPA printing stations. Beyond this, I would like the student body to become more socially active and so I will encourage the creation and growth of many student organizations on campus.”
Having a background in politics, Heffern served as the vice president of his high school class and also helped on multiple campaigns in his hometown. The other first-years elected did not make a comment on their election to the FUSA Senate.
The voter turnout for the election was low, especially from the first-year class.
In a text response to being asked why she did not vote, Joselyn Acevedo ‘22 said, “In all honesty, it was a mixture of me not knowing that exactly the voting was even for and also having more important things to worry about (lab practical, chem exam on Friday, etc.)”
FUSA encourages students to join them at their next General Senate Meeting Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. in the lower level John A. Barone Campus Center.
Leave a Reply