Sophomores Kennedy Connors and Merrick Modun were elected SGA President and Vice President, respectively, for the 2025-2026 academic year after votes were counted on Saturday, April 5.
Voting for SGA general elections took place in-person and online from April 2-4. The positions of President, Vice President and 34 senate seats were up for election. All undergraduate students enrolled in four or more credits were eligible to vote.
“We’re really excited about this position, and we’re so honored to have been selected in this role,” Connors said.
The duo were sworn in at an SGA meeting last Tuesday, April 8.
Connors and Modun said they have three main goals for their year-long term: addressing the political climate on campus, fostering a culture of consent and reforming SGA operations to increase transparency.
One of their biggest priorities in the months before summer break is increasing student support systems, such as mental health resources and education outreach, and making sure SGA has a more known presence on campus, Connors said.
Modun thought the strongest part of their campaign was that they have different strengths and were able to rely on each other throughout the campaign process, he said.
Connors agreed that being able to lean on each other was helpful during the stressful campaign. She also attributed their success to reaching out to all clubsigners before the election and asking for feedback on the biggest issues they face on campus, Connors said.
Since being elected President, Connors has talked to multiple student organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine, to let them know they have Connors and Modun’s support, Connors said.
“This is a really challenging time for our country, school and students,” Connors said. “It is so important that students fight back for what they believe in and we want to do everything in our power to promote this.”
Connors is a peer educator through the Preventing Interpersonal Violence via Outreach and Training program. Through her work with PIVOT, she has gained an understanding of the importance of students standing up for what they believe in, Connors said.
For his vice presidency, Modun is looking forward to increasing the image of SGA and ensuring SGA runs more smoothly and is more transparent, Modun said.
When they were campaigning, the most frequently asked question they received was students asking about what SGA does, Connors said.
“That is a problem,” Connors said. “One of our main shared goals is to make sure SGA has more of a known presence on campus.”
They want to make SGA into an organization that drives real change on campus, Modun said.
“Our job is to be the bridge between admin and students, but our number one job is to fight for students and all the things they care about,” Modun said. “We want to have a constructive and firm relationship with the administration, we want to build bridges not burn them.”
They want students to feel comfortable emailing them or knocking on their door in the SGA Galaxy space to talk about any questions, concerns or issues they have, Connors said.
In order to increase student accessibility to SGA, Connors and Modun asked that their emails be included in the article:
