The Leadership4U party won seven of Student Association (SA) Senate’s 12 student seats in elections held last week, giving them control of a quarter of the Senate’s total seats.
The SA Senate has 23 seats: three for the SA e-board, seven for council coordinators, one for the student affairs director and 12 for senators elected by the undergraduate student body. Students voting in last week’s election were allowed to cast a ballot for up to 12 candidates.
The Senate is responsible for allocating SA’s $4.5+ million budget, setting SA policies and bylaws, hearing appeals of certain SA decisions, and passing resolutions.
Leadership4U ran seven successful candidates: Aryan Mudgal, Krithik Madisetty, Gavin Krauciunas, Riya Gaikwad, Benjamin Lau, Dilasha Thapa and Laibah Ahmed. They proposed few specific policies in their candidate statements but ran on a platform of environmentalism, funding for clubs, student well-being and representing a diverse student body.
The five remaining seats were filled by members of four different parties.
Drew Burdette and Amadou Dieng of the “Two Young Brothers” (TYB) party were the top vote-getters. The pair ran on a platform of bridging the “gap” between students and the SA, making decisions based on student opinion and putting effort into big student events like Spring Fest.
Kayla Yan of the “With Yan We Can” party ran as a one-candidate party. Her campaign statement emphasized funding clubs, creating a safe and inclusive environment, increasing weekend busing, addressing student dietary needs and more.
Morgan Ross of the “F.A.C.T.S.” party also ran as a one-candidate party on a platform of bridging the “gap” between students and the SA. Ross is a former Spectrum editor.
Jamel Usen was the only independent candidate to win a seat. He did not submit a candidate statement.
Last year’s SA Senate chairperson, Ian Roma, was not re-elected, placing 20th. The senior political science major’s campaign emphasized his previous work with the SA.
4.9% (941) of UB’s 19,118 undergraduate students cast ballots..
Only four candidates ran for SA Senate last year and in 2021, guaranteeing every candidate a seat and leaving the Senate with the ability to appoint the remaining eight senators as per SA bylaws.
See full election results here:
- Drew Burdette – Two Young Brothers: 255 votes, 7.17% of votes cast
- Amadou Dieng – Two Young Brothers: 248 votes, 6.98%
- Aryan Mudgal – Leadership4U: 217 votes, 6.1%
- Morgan Ross – F.A.C.T.S.: 203 votes, 5.71%
- Riya Gaikwad – Leadership4U: 190 votes, 5.34%
- Jamel Usen: 188 votes, 5.29%
- Benjamin Lau – Leadership4U: 173 votes, 4.86%
- Laibah Ahmed – Leadership4U: 159 votes, 4.47%
- Dilasha Thapa – Leadership4U: 156 votes, 4.39%
- Kayla Yan – With Yan We Can: 151 votes, 4.24%
- Gavin Krauciunas – Leadership4U: 146 votes, 4.1%
- Krithik Madisetty – Leadership4U: 139 votes, 3.91%
- Nicholas Bausch: 136 votes, 3.82%
- Hudson Hort: 133 votes, 3.74%
- Karl Guenther: 108 votes, 3.03%
- Malee Alexis: 105 votes, 2.95%
- Favor Igiebor: 99 votes, 2.78%
- Ibukunoluwapo Adetola: 90 votes, 2.53%
- Shivansh Shalabh: 82 votes, 2.3%
- Ian Roma: 79 votes, 2.22%
- Dennis Kogos – Progressive Youth Alliance: 78 votes, 2.19%
- Yetunde Odugbemi: 77 votes, 2.16%
- Peter Love – Progressive Youth Alliance: 75 votes, 2.11%
- Olivia Sexton: 72 votes, 2.02%
- Nazhlah Thompson: 67 votes, 1.88%
- Bryonna Brothers: 58 votes, 1.63%
- Ehsaas Haque: 44 votes, 1.23%
- Sarwerasa Barmak: 25 votes, 0.7%
Grant Ashley is the editor in chief and can be reached at grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com
Grant Ashley is the editor in chief of The Spectrum. He's also reported for NPR, WBFO, WIVB and The Buffalo News. He enjoys taking long bike rides, baking with his parents’ ingredients and recreating Bob Ross paintings in crayon. He can be found on the platform formerly known as Twitter at @Grantrashley.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
