The 2012 Student Association executive officers were announced Tuesday night outside of Colvard Student Union. Shelby Balius was named the new SA president.
Rhett Hobart, current SA president, said a total of 4,248 students voted in the 2012 SA executive officer election. Of these votes, Shelby Balius garnered 54.8 percent, earning her the title. She will take office on March 29.
Balius said she is thrilled to be serving in her new position.
“I’m incredibly honored and humbled to be able to have the opportunity to serve in this way for the students of Mississippi State. I’m very excited about everything that this new year in the Student Association will offer,” Balius said.
Park Wynn was elected SA vice president, edging out Gavin Barnett. Wynn said he has high hopes for the upcoming year.
“I’m just so excited and honored to have the opportunity to serve as vice president for the Student Association. I’m really looking forward to seeing the things that we can do in office,” Wynn said.
Blake Shepherd gained 74 percent of the vote against Larry March and was named SA treasurer. Shepherd said he was very grateful for everyone’s support.
“I’m incredibly appreciative of the opportunity and I’m really looking forward to serving this university,” he said.
Shelby Sims ran unopposed and will serve as the next SA secretary. She said she was happy with all of the newly elected executives and is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with each of them.
“I think that with this executive council, everything will be bigger and better than ever. I’m really looking forward to everything we do. I’m happy with how everything turned out,” she said.
Donnie Banerjee will take the SA attorney general seat for 2012 after getting 54 percent of the vote. Banerjee said the win was great and claimed the elections served as a learning process for him.
“This entire process has been valuable. I’ve learned a lot about myself,” he said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a voice for the student body.”
It was also announced Tuesday night students passed Bill 8, written to redistrict the senate, by an overwhelming 75 percent.
Courtney Harris, who wrote the proposal for Bill 8, said this new resolution will completely change the composition of SA Senate. Currently, students are represented and cast their vote according to where they live. She said this causes a severe underrepresentation of students who live off campus and an overrepresentation of students who live on campus. Bill 8, she said, was written to remedy this by giving each college representatives, rather than each residence hall.
With this new bill, students will be allowed to vote by the college associated with their major, and the number of senators will be dispersed according to the student population in each college. This allows for about one senator for every 650 students in a college. Harris said this will reduce the number of seats in the senate from 48 to approximately 33 seats.
The bill will undoubtedly reduce the number of freshmen with a senate seat since residence halls will no longer have senators. Four seats will be reserved for freshmen, however, and three will be reserved for graduate students.
“I’m just happy that it passed because it’s something that the new treasurer and I have been working on for over a year,” Harris said. “We have worked so hard. It’s dear to our hearts, and I think that this will better represent our students and help the senate continue to move forward in a more intricate way.”