Santorum. Romney. Paul. Gingrich.
There are a total of four Republican presidential candidates currently vying for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election, and press coverage of the race thus far has proven cutthroat, to say the least.
This aggressive competition among opponents is what one would expect of a race for the presidency.
Unless, of course, we are talking about the 2012 presidential elections for the Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA).
Held yesterday in the lower level of the Barone Campus Center, elections for positions within FUSA featured a particularly empty ballot.
Beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m., votes were cast by Fairfield students to determine FUSA’s pending presidential, vice presidential, and senatorial positions.
But with only one candidate for president, the incumbent Rob Vogel ’13, and one candidate for vice president, Mark Evans ’13, ballot results left little to the imagination.
Vogel, however, explained that running unopposed did little to directly change campaign strategy for either rising senior.
“We didn’t want to take it lightly or make it seem like we were backing into the position,” he said.
The newly elected president went on to explain that this, in itself, exemplifies one particular modification he plans to initiate during his next term. In an effort to combat this year’s decreased enthusiasm surrounding elections, Vogel is interested in making FUSA elections one of the principal FUSA events of the year.
“If people are excited about elections, than it means we’re on the right track,” Vogel said, concluding that this is a good foundation for any successful organization.
In all, the event’s voter turnout totaled slightly fewer than 500 students, which, according to Chair of Programming Katie Shields ‘12, proves average. This modest showing, however, is a detail Vogel would like to see change.
And while past elections saw multiple contenders struggling for the esteemed titles of president and V.P., this year’s election saw competition only in the race for senatorial positions.
Composed according to graduation year, FUSA Senate offers five positions for representation per grade. A total of 15 candidates competed for ten slots between the classes of 2014 and 2015, seven candidates and eight candidates, respectively.
Of these, the winners were announced as follows: For the class of 2013: Edward Lynch, Matt Mastrianni, John Soldano, Mike Elwell and Peter Lyons. For the class of 2014: Paul O’Brian, Alex Long, Nicoletta Richardson, and Samatha Hart. (The fifth position will be determined with a revote). For the class of 2015: Timothy Manning, Christina Barry, Alex Cucchi, Kaitlin McEwan, and Casey DelBasso.
The announcement naming the winning Senate representatives, along with Vogel and Evans as newly elected president and vice president, was made at the Levee shortly after elections, at 9 p.m.
Despite the assurance that both were guaranteed the presidential and vice presidential positions, Vogel and Evans plan to work hard in their positions in the coming year.
At the after-party that followed, the serving president took a minute out of celebrating to speak about what lies ahead for the student association.
“There’s definitely a disconnect present with respect to students and administration,” Vogel said, noting that he looks to bridge this gap in his coming term.
Evans agreed. “On a very broad spectrum, I want students outside of FUSA to get involved. It’s supposed to represent the students.”
Vogel said that at the root of this year’s election process lays the fuel for a stronger student organization next year. In other words: the more involved the student body, the stronger FUSA as an organization can be.
Concluded the current president: “The more we can get people excited, the better.”
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