FAU’s Student Government (SG) held its Spring 2024 general election for president, vice president and campus governors across the Boca Raton, Broward and Northern Campuses Feb. 27 through Feb. 28 at midnight. Students casted their votes through Owl Central.
Finance junior Stefan Andjelkovic and political science junior Sophia Lindgren ran unopposed and secured their positions for president and vice president, garnering 444 votes from 91% of the student population who participated. Similarly, Raymond Adderly ran unopposed for campus governor, earning the role with 196 votes from 71.5% of the student population who participated.
The elected officials will serve the day after Spring 2024 Commencement to May 2025 Commencement.
“I look forward to representing FAU in the utmost way,” Andjelkovic said. “Our campaign serves as a reminder that we want to be the leaders students want us to be, we will listen and understand them, and we will work hard to create a positive impact at our university.”
The president, vice president and campus governor serve as the official representatives of the student body, voicing their concerns to the administration and offering valuable resources for the benefit of students, according to the SG Constitution.
The SG president represents the student body at Board of Trustees meetings, who approves university-wide budgets, installs new academic programs and ensures the university follows state laws. The president is also responsible for approving or vetoing House/Senate legislation and for reviewing the school’s budget.
The vice president chairs the University Budget Allocation Committee (UBAC) Senate meetings and represents the student body in the president’s absence while maintaining Senate legislation records.
The campus governor appoints students to their Administrative Cabinet, including positions like student government multicultural programming director, council of student organization director and student advisory volunteer involvement director. The campus governor also has the authority to approve or veto House legislation and oversee the functioning of the governor’s cabinet.
The UP interviewed Andjelkovic, former Student Body chief financial officer, and Lindgren, former FAU Boca Raton senator, discussing their FAU student body objectives in the upcoming school year.
“Some new goals that we would like to implement are the Free Transcript Program, Free Canva Subscription for Organizations, and the 2024 Free Beach Parking Initiative,” Andjelkovic said. “I am also planning to purchase a self-checkout station for the bookstore.”
All programs that are currently active in SG, including Test Prep, the Parking Forgiveness Program, the Fee Waiver Program, SG Health Program and more will remain in place next fiscal year.
“We are so inspired by previous initiatives that SGA leaders have accomplished and fully intend to keep them going,” Lindgren said.
“FAU needs leaders who listen to their students and their needs, enhance the student experience, and, most importantly, are the voices for all,” said Andjelkovic. “Together, we want to create a team who will unite the campus and fight for the student body.”
116 students voted for Grace Patterson, who will serve as governor of the Jupiter campus. Patterson’s competitors, Ashley Arbesfeld, received 24 votes and Karina Syc received 34 votes.
The official election results are pending certification by the Student Government Advisors and the Elections Board, following Elections Board Hearings and/or Judicial Court Appeals.
For future Election Board Meetings, visit http://www.fau.edu/sg and http://www.fau.edu/getinvolved/ .
Laurie Mermet is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or DM laurie.mmt on Instagram.
