Chris Breen ’15 was elected president of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) in a student election that ended Sunday at 8 p.m. Breen edged out David Levine ’16 by 24 votes, winning 403 votes to Levine’s 379. According to BSG, 830 students voted in total, resulting in a 45 percent turnout rate for the student body.
Only 93 seniors voted, while 227 and 226 juniors and sophomores voted, respectively. The first year class had 284 votes.
“I really feel passionate about Bowdoin, and I feel like I can represent a large number of viewpoints from different parts of the student body,” Breen said.
Breen was an at-large representative as a first-year, which is an elected position that engages in committees. As a sophomore, he served as the vice president for BSG affairs.
Two other BSG executive committee races were closely contested. Chrissy Rujiraorchai ’17 garnered 16 more votes than Matthew Goodrich ’15 for the position of vice president for academic affairs, 381 to 365; Harriet Fisher ’17 received 413 votes to fellow first-year Ryan Herman’s 279 and will serve as vice president for student organizations next year.
Several other vice presidents were elected in uncontested races, including Charlotte McLaughry ’15 (student government affairs), Justin Pearson ’17 (student affairs), Ryan Davis ’15 (treasury) and Bridgett McCoy ’15 (facilities and sustainability).
“I know that Chris [Breen] has a couple of projects that he wants to work on that I’m very supportive of,” said McLaughry.
Breen said during the campagin that he hopes to increase visibility during the College House selection process and to alter the Credit/D/Fail deadline, among other goals for the coming year. McLaughry said she wants to increase BSG’s connection with the student body.
McLaughry describes the position of vice president for student government affairs as a “highly administrative position.” She sees herself as skilled at working patiently with people and delegating tasks.
“My goals are really to keep the BSG running smoothly and help the president with what he decides,” McLaughry said.
This will be McLaughry’s first year on BSG.
Rujiraorchai’s primary goal is to allow students to see syllabi while choosing courses on Polaris. She also said that she wants to create a textbook exchange system for students.
Breen sees the role of the BSG as consiting of two parts: procedural work like chartering clubs, and advocating for the student body.
“You want students to feel connected to BSG,” Breen said.
This task may be harder than anticipated.
“I didn’t really know what the positions really did—I didn’t know that many of them even existed until reading the ballot,” said Elise Engquist ’15.