A week before students are set to cast their votes in the Student Government Association election, two students who were running for president and vice president withdrew from the ballot, leaving the SGA presidential and vice presidential election uncontested.
The Andrew Willett-Michael Greene ticket withdrew from the race last Tuesday citing job opportunities that could make it hard for the candidates to execute their SGA roles if elected.
Willet, who is currently the executive vice president for student affairs, said that he and Greene did not want these professional development opportunities to interfere and, fearing they may take time away from SGA, decided to withdraw from the campaign.
“We deeply reflected on our job prospects as well as our past and current experiences in SGA and came to the conclusion that we would withdraw our ticket,” Willett said in an email to The DePaulia. “We believe that SGA and the student body deserve a president and vice president that are 100 percent committed to the job because it’s a big job. We were committed and after receiving offers external from DePaul, we questioned our time management abilities. We want the student body to have a representative that can achieve the most success without interference or negligence.”
Willett and Greene are throwing their support behind students running for contested spots like executive vice presidents (EVP) of academic affairs, student affairs, and operations as well as the treasurer position.
Willett said he had not reached out to Michael Lynch or Gracie Covarrubias. He urges the next president and vice president to understand the importance of their role and to be the representatives the student body needs.
“We have not spoken with the Lynch-Covarrubias ticket. We hope they realize the importance of the role they’re stepping into and (…) professionally and effectively lead this body,” Willett said. “It is not a small task and it will not be an easy one. (Greene) and I have a great deal of experience and are more than willing to be a resource to (Lynch and Covarrubias) if they approach us.”
Though there is one other ticket in the race for president and vice president, students will still get the opportunity to vote for president, vice president and other open positions.
Covarrubias, senator for mission and values and candidate for vice president, said that she and Lynch intend to still use the time leading up to the election to campaign and hear from students.
“We’ve still got a whole week left to campaign and hear from student voices, which we always want to do,” Covarrubias said. “Ideally we want students to know what we’re doing and what we stand for.”
The “all hands on deck” motto that Lynch and Covarrubias are using for their campaign is still a driving force behind their campaigning. This means talking to students about what SGA does and could do next year under their leadership, as well as the leadership of the candidates they’re advocating for.
Lynch, who is currently the senator for intercultural awareness, said he and Covarrubias would use the time to bring attention to the contested positions up for grabs.
“The student body hasn’t definitively voted for us so we are still focusing on this campaign,” Lynch said in an email to The DePaulia. “There are still contested positions that deserve just as much attention as president and vice president. We’ll be focusing on supporting Jack Evans, for EVP for academic affairs, Marina Corona for EVP for student affairs, and Mandy Cervantes, for EVP for operations, and Jerome Dotson for treasurer, and the referendum regarding the scholarship for students who can’t file for financial aid.”
Voting begins today and ends Friday, May 12.