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April 23, 2008
By Amanda Dahlquist
Staff Writer
Election season has come and gone, at least at UIS. The Student Government Association’s top officeholders for the 2008-2009 school year were announced last Friday after a two day long election. Though most of the races went uncontested, over 350 voters took to the polls in order to cast their ballots.
The winner of the hotly contested race to be the student representative to the Board of Trustees was D. Craig McFarland, currently a junior at UIS, as well as SGA Transfer Senator and Vice-President of the College Democrats. McFarland beat out candidates Renee Rathjen and Latrice Nettles, with 81 and 110 votes respectively, with a ballot total of 172 votes. McFarland celebrated his win, announcing that “I am extremely excited and honored that the students of UIS chose me to represent them on the Board. I only hope I can live up to expectations.”
Nettles spoke in support of her opposition after the results had been announced. “I believe that Craig will do a great job serving as our Student Trustee, and you have to love him,” she said.
McFarland is geared up for the position to which he was elected. “I intend to go to work right away to address some major problems on campus,” he said, adding “I look forward to working with Ashley Rook, and I know that SGA will accomplish a lot this upcoming year.”
Rook, who ran unopposed in the election, is equally as excited about what the future holds. “I am optimistic about the upcoming year and anticipate many positive changes,” she said. “I am very excited to work with such qualified and capable student leaders, especially a group with such diverse experiences and perspectives.”
Included in the group of newly elected SGA officers are Brandon Guiliano (as Vice-President), Yolanda Beaman (as Secretary), and Charles Olivier (as Treasurer). Matt Van Vossen and Derek Felix grabbed the seats for Senator of Public Affairs and Aministration and Senator of Business and Management respectively. The election’s other contested race was easily a win for Bret Tate, who with 202 votes beat out Amy Quarton’s 97, to take the position of Senator for Liberal Arts and Sciences.
According to Cynthia Thompson, Director of Student Life, it is not an unfamiliar phenomenon to have candidates running unopposed. However, she noted that “we’ve had years where there has been fewer uncontested races.”
The results of the election for SGA officers were recorded without a hitch, but the same can not be said for the results of the referendum that was on the ballot. Voters were asked whether they favor renaming TRAC. Due to a computer glitch, votes were not tallied correctly. According to Thompson, a meeting of the Elections Committee will be held in order to weigh the next move in regards to the referendum.
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