Alika Turton will be the 2023-24 UB Council student representative after beating out four other candidates for the role, according to a Monday email from UB Student Engagement.
Turton, a sophomore political science major, won in a special election after the winner of the original election declined the position. Five of the seven original candidates, including Turton, ran in the second election.
Turton ran on a platform of improving on-campus accessibility for students with disabilities, decreasing bus wait times, amending Campus Dining meal plan rules, creating a student resource portal and implementing a food delivery program for sick students. She has previously held various roles in the Residence Hall Association (RHA) and SUNY Student Assembly.
Turton said that her goal is to “lead, empower and innovate the UB student experience.”
“As someone who has been in student leadership since she was in middle school and even just as a student has seen and felt the struggle of feeling like your opinions are not valued, I know what it means to need a student representative that puts their all into their position and is willing to call out UB for anything that harms the student body,” Turton said in her platform.
The student representative is the only student-elected member of the UB Council — the “primary oversight and advisory body” to UB administrators — and acts as a liaison between the 30,000-member student body and the council.
Turton will start her term on July 1, 2023.
Turton did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Victoria Hill is the senior news editor and can be reached at victoria.hill@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
