Four of the seven Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) officer positions were unopposed, but nearly a thousand students still chose to vote in this week's balloting.
In the closest competitive race?vice president of academic affairs?junior Burgess LePage received 310 votes, trumping Charlie Ticotsky '07 by only two. For the position of treasurer and Student Activities Fee Committee (SAFC) chair, Rebecca Ginsburg '07 won with a 20-vote margin over Joshua Cippel '08. Stephanie Witkin '07 will be the next vice president of student organizations, surpassing Roman Jackson '07. The tally in that race was 551-364.
Incumbent DeRay Mckesson '07 was re-elected to the BSG presidency. With 949 students voting for the unopposed Mckesson, the presidential race had the highest turnout of any of the seven officer races.
The race's other three incumbents?Vice President of Student Affairs Dustin Brooks '08, Vice President of Student Affairs Carolyn Chu '07, and Vice President of Facilities William Donahoe '08?also ran unopposed.
Voting began Wednesday morning and ended at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Mckesson was optimistic about the officer team's potential.
"Last year, the idea was from transition to stability," Mckesson said. "In so many ways we've stabilized."
"This team will be the team to take us to the next step," he said.
Mckesson noted that next year's "big focus" will be on academics and club support.
"The question we will ask will be, 'What is our commitment to academic programming inside of the classroom and outside of the classroom?'" he said.
Programming could include a book club or academic field trips.
Mckesson also said BSG will likely push for conversations about pre-major academic advising.
"It's not ideal," he said. "We need to talk about what the ideal is in a way that is constructive."
As for the new focus on club support, student organizations will likely notice a push for increased integration between the treasurer's operations and the work of the vice president of student organizations.
The new team may also bring a new set of dynamics. While this year's slate of officers only had two seniors, this week's election increases the number of seniors to five. Mckesson said that he will try to be conscious of this during his tenure. In addition, many of these students have been friends since their early years at Bowdoin, Mckesson said, providing a "manageable challenge."
The officer team's first action will be the appointment of students to college committees next month. LePage and Ginsberg are currently studying abroad and will not be actively involved in that process, Mckesson said.
The Classes of 2008 and 2009 elected class officers, most of whom work independently of BSG's main body. Sophomore Jacob Sack ran unopposed and will be the Class of 2008's next president. In the Class of 2009 presidential race, Christian Adam's total of 142 votes was enough to displace incumbent Lynzie McGregor's 122 votes. The Class of 2007's election will take place in the fall.