Shihab Moral

Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) held elections last weekend for next year’s president, vice president, treasurer and charterer positions. Alex Kruse ’26 won the presidency with 50.81 percent of the vote and Harper Stevenson ’27 won the vice presidency in an uncontested race. Chase Lenk ’26 was elected chair of the treasury with 56.35 percent of the vote and Tyler McGrath ’28 was elected charterer in an uncontested race.

This year, the trend in decreasing voter turnout for BSG presidential and vice presidential elections continued, as 559 votes were cast, compared to 792 in 2024 and 849 in 2023.

“I was hoping for a higher voter turnout, but I know there are limits to what we can do to encourage our peers to vote,” current BSG president Eisa Rafat ’25 wrote in an email to the Orient.

Both Kruse and Stevenson have prior experience on BSG. Kruse served as chair of the Student Organization Oversight Committee for the 2023-2024 academic year, and Stevenson is currently chair of the Student Affairs Committee.

Having taken this year off from BSG to go abroad, Kruse is looking forward to meeting new members and diving straight into a heavy workload.

“There’s a lot of great voices this year that I’m really excited to work with,” Kruse said. “There’s already a million projects and a million meetings and a million things that need to happen, and I’m excited to just get into it.”

In their candidacy statements, Kruse and Stevenson noted similar priorities, including expanding the budget for student clubs and events. Kruse proposed allocating specific funding for large affinity group events such as Ebony Ball and Diwali. She cited past work from her time as a committee chair as valuable experience for planning effective action.

“It helped me learn a lot about how BSG operated and what did not work, which is more invaluable than anything else,” Kruse said. “I really want to work on some of the big events on campus, [look at] how BSG can support them and how we can foster community among students.”

Both Kruse and Stevenson also shared a desire to improve BSG communication with the student body.

“One of my main goals is making BSG more transparent. I think that sometimes students don’t know what BSG is up to and what we’re doing for students,” Kruse said. “So I really want to take an active role in making BSG much more accessible.”

Some of Stevenson’s stated goals include expanding the break shuttle service to Portland Jetport that BSG reintroduced this year and implementing a permanent free laundry sheets program. However, her first priority as vice president will be establishing a welcoming onboarding process for new members.

“I think it can feel hard for new members to really understand how BSG functions, because it can seem convoluted or too procedural at times,” Stevenson said. “The executive team does a lot of agenda setting and initiative building and proposing, and I really want to make a space where representatives on all the different committees feel like they can come forward with their own proposals.”

Stevenson also expressed excitement to build off the momentum she created serving as a committee chair this year. She noted that relationships she has built with the Office of the Dean of Students and Office of Student Activities position her well for her new role.

“I feel really plugged in and ready to rely on different adults, but I also feel ready to work with and lead the [BSG] team,” Stevenson said. “I’m not confrontational, but I’m not afraid to put my voice out there and make sure that it’s heard and that other people’s voices are heard too.”

After elections conclude this weekend for next year’s executive chair and class council positions, Kruse and Stevenson will begin the training process for their new positions. For Rafat, a priority will be ensuring that current BSG programs can carry on under new leadership.

“My personal focus in this year’s onboarding process is on walking through the different initiatives BSG has spearheaded this year,” Rafat wrote. “I hope doing that will equip the incoming assembly with the tools and understanding to continue these initiatives next year (for example, BSG Break Shuttle).”

Chase Lenk ’26 and Harper Stevenson ’27 are members of the Bowdoin Orient.