Arianna Otero / Staff Writer
A brand new executive board has been appointed within Student Government Association, all with the unifying goal of coming together to support and encourage engagement among the new senators, and spark panther pride among students as this coming school year marks the 50th anniversary of FIU.
Over the course of three senate meetings, SGA voted in the new senate president, president pro-tempore, floor leader, and appointed the comptroller and chief-of-staff.
On May 9, SGA began the summer meeting with the required election of the senate president and president pro-tempore.
Running unopposed, former SIPA senator Alex Sutton, after presenting to the senate why he was a good fit for the role, was voted in as senate president.
“I have ideas about what needs to be corrected in the constitution and the statutes to make sure SGA is functioning as efficiently as possible,” said Sutton when asked about his goals and platform. “But in terms of my own goals, I would like to promote more Panther nationalism at this university.”
Four candidates ran for president pro-tempore: Iara Raggio, Ian Lares-Chacin, Zachary Stangl, and Rafael Moya-Palacios.
The vote was preceded by a period in which each candidate was allowed to give their nomination speech, followed by a question and answer period.
Stangl and Raggio received the majority of votes, so the senate voted once more between the two.
In the end, Stangl would be voted as president pro-tempore.
“I’m really here to help out everybody the best I can because that’s the type of guy I am,” said Stangl. “I just want to help everybody out. That’s why I joined SGA to start with.”
Next meeting, May 16, the agenda would include voting for the senate floor leader. Fernando Melara also ran unopposed and was unanimously voted in as floor leader.
“I’m definitely trying to encourage better communication with senators so that we’re able to bring more resolutions to Senate,” said Melara. “I hope we maintain this communication with the leadership… and other parts of SGA.”
With confirmations done, senate leadership is complete. However, some positions on the e-board were still empty. The senate still has many vacancies in the judicial branch which they hope to fill in soon.
At the meeting on May 23, to finish off the e-board, Gabriela Alvarez and Kyomi Cabral were voted in and confirmed for the positions as comptroller and chief-of-staff respectively.
SGA President Lugo spoke a bit about his new e-board and the expectations he has set for them in this upcoming school year.
“I have really high expectations, the number one and the only thing is for them to be present,” said Lugo. “Meaning that if we have an event for them to attend for all of us to be in attendance.”
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