The 2008-09 Student Government Association election results are in, and junior Harold T. Respass was elected SGA President; students also decided that future Campus Activity Board Presidents must be elected.
Theodis Chunn was elected Mr. Winston-Salem State, and Latoya N. Perry was voted Miss WSSU.
Respass defeated his opponent junior Derwin Montgomery. Respass claimed 73 percent of the vote.
Respass said that he’s excited about the win and is looking forward to becoming president next fall.
“I’m very excited,” said Respass. “The SGA got a lot accomplished this year and I look forward to working with the students next year towards things like keeping tuition low.”
In other results, Whitney McCoy won Vice-President of Internal Affairs by default. Asa Mack was elected VP of External Affairs. Justin D. Freeman was elected Secretary of Treasury, and Dao Vang and Quentin R. Jones were elected to Secretary of Judicial Affairs and Secretary of Commuter Student Affairs by default. Marlena J. Baxter was elected Executive Secretary.
The presidential race had the highest percentage of voters among the SGA Executive Board positions with 866 students voting out of a total of 5,209 (16.63 percent). The results suggest that the longer students attend school the less likely they are to vote.
Nearly 71 percent of students voted that the entire student body should elect the CAB president. The SGA brought up the issue at a Student Senate meeting last fall, and it was placed on the ballot this year.
Dale Williams, Student Activities Director at WSSU, said she disagreed with the students’ decision.
“If the reasoning for voting on CAB president is based on student funding,” Williams said. “Then it opens up the door for students to vote for other student-funded organizations.”