New SGA senators elected for 2023-2024 academic year
Senators were elected April 28 to represent the various Chapman schools, programs and student groups. Photo by RENEE ELEFANTE, managing editor
Chapman University’s Student Government Association (SGA) welcomed 11 new senators April 28 after students voted in a senatorial election that lasted from April 24 to April 26.
Once the voting period closed, it is estimated that about 5% of the student population had voted for their respective candidates, according to SGA President Rachel Berns. Students voted through an eBallot link sent to their Chapman emails.
Eleven different senators were elected last week:
Eric Hall, Academic Student Organizations Senator
Pamela Perez, Greek Student Organizations Senator
Cintya Felix, Wilkinson College Senator
Sydney Pfeifer-Picard, Attallah College Senator
Tiffany Le, Upperclassmen Senator
Cristina Inboden, Crean College Senator
Tori Nguyen, Argyros School of Business and Economics Senator
Mariana Velarde-Alvarez, School of Pharmacy Senator
Cami Acosta, Schmid College Senator
Chloe Hataishi, School of Communication Senator
Zuleyka Urieta, Fowler School of Engineering Senator
Felix, a freshman double majoring in political science and Spanish, was inspired to run for the Wilkinson College Senator due to her experience with the Promising Futures Program and the Cross-Cultural Center before her first year at Chapman even began.
“Even before my first day of school at Chapman, I had the opportunity to meet other first-generation students in the Summer Bridge program hosted by the Promising Futures Program and the Cross-Cultural Center,” Felix told The Panther. “I immediately connected with other students, staff and faculty with similar backgrounds as me, and they encouraged me to take leadership on campus to bring representation to underserved communities like the ones we come from.”
Before running, Felix was the Diversity Student Organizations Senator, serving in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee and Allocations committee. She was also a cofounder of Golden Panthers, a group advocating to bring the first Latina-oriented sorority to Chapman.
“As a candidate for the Wilkinson College Senator position, I would love to continue my previous work, as well as representing the voices and concerns of students majoring and minoring in Wilkinson College, the heart and soul of Chapman,” Felix said.
Hall, a sophomore studying economics and philosophy, decided to run for the Academic Student Organizations Senator position after joining SGA and the Honors Society.
“I’m involved with a bunch of different student organizations on campus already,” Hall told The Panther. “I’ve seen things where there's ways that a Senate could be really helpful. I wanted to be able to run for that position to try and help out other people (in academic student organizations).”
As a senator, Hall would like to create a loaning system for honors students who need cords for graduation.
“Currently, SGA does not fund single-use graduation items like cords or anything like that,” Hall said. “I want to start up a loaning program to loan people honor cords for graduation that they could give back after.”
Hall is also planning to create more opportunities for student academic organizations to collaborate with one another.
“I want to try and plan more events for people in academic organizations in particular, just so people can try to get to know each other and mingle and collaborate on stuff,” Hall said. “I think the ways for people to make those connections would be really helpful.”
Perez, a freshman studying political science, was elected as the Greek Student Organizations Senator after being the Civic Engagement Senator for the 2022-2023 school year.
“As next year's Greek Student Organizations Senator, I hope to aid Greek organizations, both professional and non-professional, to connect more with each other in providing events and opportunities… as well as connecting Greek life more with the entire student body in order to promote a sense of inclusivity and openness with all of Chapman's organizations on campus,” Perez told The Panther.
Perez said that she enjoyed her experience campaigning for her new position.
“I think campaigning should be seen as more of an enjoyable thing, because it is,” Perez said. “It's all about promoting yourself and meeting new people through it.”
Hataishi, a freshman communication studies major, was a member of the School of Communication student advisory board and worked with the Peer Mentoring and Recruitment Committee before being elected as the School of Communications Senator.
“Working with the student advisory board made me realize I had a true passion for helping others, especially with my fellow peers within the School of Communication,” Hataishi said.
In her new position, Hataishi would like to create and support a community of students within her major.
“I’d like to bring together more communications students as a community and see more engagement within the community,” Hataishi said. “I want to help students utilize all of Chapman’s resources and ultimately help students work towards their goals.”
Nguyen, a freshman business major, was elected as the Argyros School of Business and Economics Senator after being involved in the honors program and being proactive with SGA social media, events and board live streams.
As the new senator, Nguyen said that she plans to focus on academics and to create ways for students to plan their futures.
“I would like to complete a plethora of goals for business students to fulfill their academic lifestyle here at Chapman. Some of these goals include growing connections, including academic advising and budgeting,” Nguyen told The Panther.
SGA’s new Schmid College Senator, Acosta, is a junior studying biology. Before running, Acosta served as a student representative on the Schmid Faculty Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
“As Schmid Senator, I want to improve student support resources and encourage
increased student involvement within Schmid,” Acosta told The Panther. “I also would like to help increase mental health support and raise awareness for on and off-campus resources. For example, I plan on organizing wellness and stress management workshops led by mental health professionals.”
Acosta also plans to publicize the work of Schmid College of Science and Technology.
“I want to increase awareness of the amazing research happening in Schmid. I plan on accomplishing this by highlighting lab accomplishments and student publications,” Acosta said.
Le, a sophomore studying data science, was elected Upperclassmen Senator after being the Fowler School of Engineering Senator for the past two school years, as well as SGA Internal Committee Allocations Chairperson for the 2022-2023 school year.
“Being an upperclassman is difficult to say the least. You oftentimes feel the pressure to be a role model for lowerclassmen, especially the first-year students,” Le told The Panther. “As an upperclassmen senator, I see this as a responsibility I share amongst others to collaborate on initiatives that will cater or assist to these needs.”
Le has many goals to accomplish in her position next year, specifically involving student initiatives and students' mental health.
“I would like to continue the amazing events and initiatives that were planned by the previous upperclassmen senators and expanding the Mental Health & Wellness resources on campus,” Le said. “I plan to have some networking and fun events for transfer students especially in the Spring.”
After being re-elected as Attallah College Senator for her second term, Pfeifer-Picard, a sophomore integrated educational studies major, will continue to host panels and events.
“I am looking to put on more community events for Attallah such as the two that I have put on previously,” Pfeifer-Picard told The Panther. “I am also currently working on a project with Attallah professor Jorge Rodriguez to create an Orange Historical Tour, which will connect and educate the Chapman community about the historical and cultural significance of the surrounding Orange community.”
Zuleyka Urieta, a freshman studying software engineering, was elected as the Fowler School of Engineering (FSE) Senator. Her goals include welcoming students who are interested in science but have not been able to learn more about the subject.
“I want to support incoming students who may not be as familiar with STEM principles or software as their peers due to unequal opportunities,” Urieta said. “Many of us are interested in research opportunities, job opportunities and resources to help us take our education to the next level. For this reason, I plan to work closely with FSE faculty to get more students involved in faculty-led research on campus and promote outside STEM research opportunities.”
Velarde-Alvarez, a freshman studying pre-pharmacy, was not involved with SGA before being elected to School of Pharmacy Senator, but has high hopes for next year in her position.
“My primary goals are to represent my peers well and give the pharmacy program a well-established voice on campus,” Velarde-Alvarez told the Panther.
Whether or not they have been involved in SGA before the election, next semesters’ senators have plans to improve the undergraduate community and their opportunities.
“I am in the process of learning more about the routine that SGA follows, but I am so honored and grateful to have been elected with the help of my peers,” Velarde-Alvarez said.