Referendum to split student government passes

The referendum concerning the split between undergraduate, and graduate and professional student governments was approved on Thursday March 2 after a campus-wide vote.

With the passage of this referendum, the two groups will now have their own presidents, cabinets and their own senates. There will only be one student body president sitting on the Board of Trustees who will represent both the undergraduates and the graduate and professional students.

The referendum required a 50 percent plus one vote to pass and received over 80 percent of the vote.

Board of Elections Chairperson Paul Kushner said the election went as planned.

“Other (than) the delay in announcing the results, tonight went the way it is supposed to go,” Kushner said regarding the election results being reported two hours after they were expected.

Today’s referendum only required a 50 percent plus one vote because it was proposed as a constitutional referendum from Student Congress. Past Graduate and Professional Student Federation referendums had to be put on the ballot themselves, meaning it required a two-thirds vote to pass.

This plan was constructed by student government, GPSF and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp.

Madelyn Percy will serve as the graduate student government president for the 2017-2018 academic year.

“I am excited for the opportunity to work with my fellow graduate and professional students, the undergraduates and administration to ensure that graduate and professional student voices are represented on campus,” Percy said.

All other offices except student body president were voted on today. The student body president election is halted indefinitely after a complaint was filed on Tuesday against the BOE by Travis Broadhurst, who is running a write-in campaign for student body president.

The current candidates for student body president, Maurice Grier and Elizabeth Adkins, are still allowed to campaign, but both have hearings in front of the BOE today.

Karli Krasnipol won the election for senior class president.

She was a write-in candidate and will have Aaron Epps as her senior class vice president. He was also a certified write-in. Krasnipol said she views this as an important part of her senior year.

“I’m incredibly excited, running a write-in campaign was definitely an intimidating task,” Krasnipol said.

Hiren Gihwala was elected to serve as the president of the Residence Hall Association. Christina Cupello will fill the position of Carolina Athletic Association President.

Positions on Student Congress were also filled for districts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8. Districts 1, 4 and 5 still have seats yet to be filled.

Write-in candidates to district 7 will have to be confirmed by the BOE before they can officially be announced.

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