Juniors Aliyah Seenauth and Zachary Vargas were announced victorious in the 76th Fairfield University Student Association’s Presidential election on Feb. 28. Seenauth and Vargas will serve as President and Vice President, respectively, for the 2023-2024 academic year.
With the closing of the University due to heavy snowfall, the election party was moved to a live, online webinar versus the pre-arranged in-person meeting in the lower-level Barone Campus Center. The organization sent out a mass email later in the afternoon to inform attendees of the change.
Caroline Cody ‘25, Chief Justice of the FUSA Court, began the night promptly at 7 p.m. where she stated that 1,319 total students submitted a ballot for the 76th election. This six-day voting period was followed by the annual Presidential debate that took place on Feb. 21 where both candidate tickets expressed their campaign.
852 total votes were counted for the Seenauth-Vargas ticket (64.59%) and 439 for the Young-Paltrinieri ticket (33.28%). The final 28 ballots (2.12%) accounted for those who submitted write-in votes.
After the announcement was made official, Vargas took the lead in response as Seenauth’s eyes began to swell with pride.
“I think the only thing that we can say is thank you. Thank you to every FUSA advisor that’s helped put on this entire election, everyone that commissioned, moderated and supported it. We could not have done it without any of you,” Vargas stated.
To finalize his response, he reminded all listeners of their brand name: “Officially, we are ready to give Fairfield everything we need. We’re very excited.”
Seenauth then took over the screen, where she said “The most important thing to me is representation. This isn’t just about me, it’s about everyone else that supports me and us.”
She is one of few female FUSA Presidents, the most recent one being elected in 2019, but tonight Seenauth made history as the first Black female FUSA President.
“At the BSU Gala this past Saturday, the speaker said ‘You can be a first, but to make people have space for a first.’ I’m going to be a first, but I want everyone else to know that I support them fully so thank you,” she shared.
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