No headline provided

No headline provided

Eli Anders was elected Associate Student Body President for the 2012-13 academic school year Feb. 9.

Anders received 66.99 percent of the vote, or 343 votes. The opposing candidate, Eric Stockwell, received 33 percent with 169 votes.

The Undergraduate Student Government Constitutional Referendum was also voted on and approved by a margin of 193 to 34. Under the approved amendments, the position of vice president for public affairs was replaced with a vice president for academic affairs, the Service Organizations Council was renamed the Community Action Council of Tulane, and the Programming Organizations Council was split into two entities.

Five hundred and twenty-four students voted online 9 a.m. Tuesday to 5 p.m. Wednesday for the new ASB President.

The role of ASB President is to serve as a liaison between the undergraduate and graduate governments and the administration.

“The ASB president is primarily responsible for making sure that issues that are of campus-wide concern are brought forth to the administration and that there is a good relationship between the graduate and undergraduate governments,” said Jered Bocage, assistant director of student programs. “They meet four times a year with the undergraduate and graduate student governments in joint sessions.”

Of the total graduate and undergraduate student population, 3.9 percent voted in the election. Student Government Resource Associate Peter Young said that a lower turnout rate is not uncommon for ASB elections but that a larger number of candidates generally generate a greater turnout.

“In the ASB elections, usually the numbers are not as high as USG,” Young said. “A lot of people do not really understand the office of ASB as much as the graduate and undergraduate sides.”

Anders said improving voter turnout is one of the goals he hopes to accomplish as president.

“In the future, that’s something I would really like to work on,” Anders said. “It’s really important to vote because student government does a lot of things, and it’s important to have the right people doing it.”

Along with student involvement, Anders said he plans to focus on safety and on the student experience with financial aid and the Student Health Center.

“They say safety first when it comes to a lot of things, and the Tulane experience is no different,” Anders said. “We have got to get lights on [Maple Street] and other areas, and we have got to get serious about making Tulane safe.”

 

Leave a Comment