Chapman’s Student Government Association (SGA) recently celebrated new accomplishments for its organization, including the approval of its newest Constitution and the announcement of the new SGA president and vice president-elect for the upcoming school year.

The Chapman community had the opportunity to vote in both the SGA Presidential Election and the Constitutional Election this year, giving students the ability to choose how they want SGA to operate going forward. Results for the two elections were disclosed to students on Feb. 28.

According to current SGA President and senior health sciences major Rachel Berns, both elections passed with a student voter participation rate of 28.88%, the highest voter turnout ever in SGA history.

“(The results) reflect very encompassing efforts across various areas of campus (faculty, student-athletes, Greek organizations, etc.) and so much hard work from our SGA members interpersonally, via social media and beyond,” Berns wrote in an email to The Panther. 

Berns continued: “I am really impressed with how many Chapman students took the time to understand the proposed amendments and ask thoughtful questions to our SGA members with a genuine interest in what they were voting for.”

New SGA president, vice president announced for upcoming academic year

At a small ceremony on Feb. 28, SGA revealed that junior philosophy and economics double major Eric Hall would serve as the new SGA president for the 2024-25 school year. Over this past year, Hall has served as SGA’s Academic Organizations Senator. 

According to SGA’s voting results posted on Instagram, Hall received 58.41% of the votes out of 7,433 eligible voters. His opponent, sophomore economics and public relations and advertising double major Isaac Persky, received 39.42% of the votes. 2.17% of voters submitted write-ins and 78 students abstained from the vote, indicating that they decided not to vote for either candidate that was running for president.

“I’m incredibly excited to start working!” Hall told The Panther. “I still have several weeks before my term as president officially starts, but training and transitioning has already started. I’m also really happy that the Constitutional amendments were approved this election. SGA has changed a lot over the past seven years, and I think that the new documents can let us run much more smoothly.” 

Upon beginning his new role at the start of next school year, Hall hopes to focus on improving the shuttle experience for Chapman students and also helping to clarify the funding process for student organizations. 

According to Hall, he also wants to ensure a smooth transition for SGA next year in accordance with the amended changes to the Constitution. 

As for the incoming vice president, sophomore political science major Sydney Lasensky will be taking the reins. Currently, Lasensky is SGA’s Underclassmen Senator and she also serves on the University and Academic Affairs Committee.

SGA’s voting results posted on Instagram revealed that Lasensky received 36.16% of the votes, while her opponents, junior data science major Tiffany Le and sophomore business administration major Ryann Sax, received 31.43% and 30.45% of the votes, respectively. 1.96% of voters submitted write-in candidates, and 94 students abstained from the vote.

“I am incredibly proud and grateful that this election was a success,” Lasensky wrote in an email to The Panther. “Campaigning with my fellow candidates was a pleasure and a phenomenal way to get the word out about SGA. I am excited to soon be sworn in and get to work!”

As Lasensky begins her transition into the vice president role, she hopes to work with Hall on jumpstarting the internal and external changes enacted by the amended Constitution. She also wants to ensure that the student body is aware and accustomed to these changes, including how to submit funding requests for student clubs and organizations.

According to Lasensky, she hopes to facilitate a stronger connection between SGA and the Chapman community while working alongside Hall. 

SGA Constitution receives enough voter participation to pass after seven years

After seven years of annual Constitutional Elections, SGA’s amended Constitution finally passed with a 28.88% voter participation rate. In order to be able to pass the document, 20% of the Chapman student body must vote in the election.

According to SGA’s voting results on Instagram, the amended Constitution passed with 97.86% of students voting ‘yes,’ while 2.14% of students voted not to approve the changes.

In order to increase voter participation, SGA offered various incentives, including food trucks on campus along with opportunity drawings for students who voted. The prizes from the opportunity drawings include Beats by Dre headphones, a Stanley Cup, a dinner with Dean of Students Jerry Price and a supper with President Daniele Struppa. 

According to Berns, SGA will soon be contacting the winners of the opportunity drawings to confirm if they would like to accept their prizes before being announced via social media. No exact date for this has yet been determined.

The newly passed Constitution brings about four main amendments to how SGA will operate, including two changes that focus on the consolidation of positions within the organization. Another change will create three finance/allocations committees to help meet students’ financial needs, while the final change will move explanations of position-specific duties to other SGA documents while keeping a core outline of the positions in the Constitution.

For further information on the amendments to the SGA Constitution, click here.

“Lots of healthy debate and incredibly contemplative conversations across several months went into these proposed amendments, and it's so gratifying to know they will be coming to fruition soon,” Berns told The Panther. 

SGA is currently working on revising its remaining operating documents, including its By-Laws and Senate Operating Procedures, to reflect the changes approved in the recent Constitutional Election. After all documents are updated, they will go up for a vote by the Senate on March 15 and will begin to take effect starting with the upcoming Spring Senatorial Election this semester.

According to Berns, the current Senate will continue to operate under the previous Constitution up until late April. However, starting next school year, the 2024-25 SGA will be fully operational under the new amendments.