With the Student Government Association (SGA) 2019 elections over, the senate must now pick its cabinet members.
With the Student Government Association (SGA) 2019 elections over, the senate must now pick its cabinet members.
The SGA voted on the new president pro tempore at the senate meeting Wednesday at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, and Carter Gallagher, sophomore political science major, came out on top.
“Look, it feels good, [but] all five of those candidates were qualified,” Gallagher said. “We would have been good either way.”
He said he wasn’t sure why the senate chose him, but hopes telling the senate of his history as an advocate for students “played into that decision.”
Gallagher was one of five candidates to run this year. These candidates were nominated and voted on by fellow senators.
The other four running this year included Savannah Bassett, a junior accounting major; James Schwer, sophomore biochemistry and pre-physician assistant dual major; Hugo Madrigal, sophomore political science and legal studies dual major and Mariah Bowman, sophomore economics major.
According to the SGA constitution, the president pro tempore is responsible for orienting new members, organizing committee assignments, direct legislation from the Student Senate to the University Senate and serve as the chair of the Rules and Constitution Committee.
In the elections, each candidate was given five minutes to present themselves and five minutes to answer senators’ questions. After all five members presented and answered questions, the senate convened for 15 minutes before voting.
Current President Pro Tempore Kameron Bontrager said the biggest duty of a president pro tempore is making connections between members in the SGA, which he said will be Gallagher’s biggest challenge.
“Beyond that, just holding each other accountable … accountability is something that lacked in years past when it came to the pro temp position,” Bontrager said. “So I feel like this year we really focused the second semester on holding senators and chairs, and I guess individual committees and caucuses, accountable.”
Currently, the SGA bylaws state the only eligible candidates are senators within the SGA, and no executive members are allowed to run for the position.
Contact Charles Melton with comments at cwmelton@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Cmelton144.
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