Nadia Deljou | The Signal
Team IMPACT, a student comprised political group, rocked the vote by securing a win for nearly every position in the 2015 SGA Elections.
As this election season drew to a close, at least one vote was reeled in by each of the four unopposed executive candidates as the polls tallied 580 votes in total, according to SGA Election Commission Chairperson Nyomi Haynes.
Rather than congregating at the polls, students visited the website OrgSync to cast their votes this year. The voting site also displayed a description of each candidate in 75 words or less.
However, the new polling software suffered a few technical glitches which prevented some students from voting. The voting period was extended a few hours to compensate for the issues, according to Parra.
“Voting [was] extended until 10 a.m.,” he said. “We [had] been hearing of students having problems logging on to vote.”
Despite technical glitches, the new SGA members were announced as scheduled at the Library Plaza on April 13 at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Uncontested wins placed Sebastian Parra, former executive vice president (EVP) in the presidential chair with Teara Mayfield as EVP.
Unopposed IMPACT team members David Jackson and Hannah Grant will adopt roles as the vice president of Academic Affairs and vice president of Public Relations, respectively.
Grant said she is appreciative of the her new position but regrets there was no one to run against.
“I’m a bit frustrated about not having competition,” she said. “I’m grateful, but I’d like to feel like I won something.”
Corey Sams clinched the spot of VP of Student Life, and Fortune Onwuzuruike claimed the Student Services chair.
Despite being under investigation for misleading campaign flyers, Tobi Soyebo beat out Johnathanjoe Mejica for the VP position of Budget and Finance. Soyebo is the first non-IMPACT affiliated winner for the executive board in three years.
VP of Academic Services Jackson said Team IMPACT has been sweeping the polls since its 2012 inception.
“Team IMPACT was formed after a passionate group of students decided they wanted to bring a real change to their campus — an impact,” he said. “The team was so dedicated they enjoyed a 100 percent success rate that year and every year since.”
Despite being formed around an acronym-based platform shared by all of its members, Team IMPACT is not a political party, but rather a group of like minded individuals with a wide variety of beliefs, according to Parra.
“It’s not a political party as [political parties] are defined by specific ideals that you never stray from,” he said. “Team IMPACT is people that know each other and cooperate well together…There is no application. It’s word of mouth. If you know people, you get in and anyone can join. We [share] a feeling of what is realistic and unrealistic [for the university].”
The effects of Team IMPACT
Parra said, together, the team has led SGA to an array of legislative success.
“Our biggest impact has been [the implementation of] Organizations United (OU),” he said. “Last year we had $190,000 left over. So we allowed campus organization groups to apply for $5,000 grants.”
Former SGA President Lanier Henson said this initiative has provided aid to various campus organizations while encouraging them to intertwine with one another.
“Through the allocation of these funds, we were able to help fund 13 campus-wide events hosted through the collaboration of more than 45 different student organizations and departments,” he said. “These campus wide collaborations are how we, as the Panther Family, are able to truly take advantage of and embrace the diversity which is Georgia State University.”
Jackson said he believes the most pivotal motion by SGA this year was the amending of their government texts in an effort to better manage power.
“The largest impact made by student government this year was the revision of [SGA] constitution and bylaws,” he said. “The revisions will allow student government to operate in a responsible and efficient manner.”
Parra said the changes will bump up the candidates responsibilities in order to apply a system of checks and balances.
“We made it so that one third of the stipend is contingent upon completion of your office hours, one third is contingent upon your attendance at SGA meetings and the last third [depends on] your performance as an official,” he said.
Grant served her last term as SGA senate clerk and said she is proud of the open dining hall legislation that she supported towards ratification.
“I’m really excited about the food legislation we passed for Dahlberg Hall,” she said. “Students can now feel free to bring in outside food.”
Transparency and student services
In an effort to embrace a broad spectrum of beliefs and opinions, Parra said SGA has been reaching out to various university faculties for input.
“What I did this year was invite housing and facilities persons to our town hall meeting on gender-neutral housing,” he said. “We need to make sure cooperation is implemented in our community.”
Grant said SGA needs to emphasize to students the accessibility of student government and the scholastic offerings around campus in order to fulfill the T in IMPACT, which means “Transforming student services.”
“Transforming student services will entail finding ways to ensure university resources are being utilized and recognized by the student body,” she said.
Students are encouraged to attend SGA meetings and events to put forth their perspective regarding Georgia State matters, according to Grant.
“We appreciate students coming to meetings,” she said. “We’re always trying to increase student involvement.”
Parra said SGA has not always been promptly accessible, but he intends to ensure absolute transparency with student media during the coming term.
“We must maintain a respectful relationship between the The Signal and SGA as we’re both very busy organizations,” he said.
He said SGA could introduce weekly interviews to keep their social network up to speed with student government activity.
“All VPs have office hours, but I think we could also add 30 minutes a week to schedule interviews to inform the press of any developments, [to] keep you informed.”
