Words by Hunter Patterson of USF's Foghorn
Junior Bobby Marquez was declared the next student body president Thursday afternoon following the conclusion of ASUSF elections. Marquez beat incumbent Alex Platt by a margin of 30-percent (501 to 386) and current Off-Campus Representative Jon Coon who received 359 votes.
Three of the four vice president positions were closely contested races. Halimah Najieb-Locke edged-out incumbent Carmen Kestekyan with 52-percent of the vote to Kestekyan’s 45-percent to win the Vice President of Internal Affairs post. Danny Ha will be the next Vice President of Public Relations after receiving 37-percent of the vote, beating Ricardo Hieber (28-percent) who had allied with Marquez and Erick Irigoyen (34–percent) who campaigned with Platt. Incumbent Alia Al-Sharif defeated Shelly Saini with 52-percent of the vote to Saini’s 46-percent in the competition for Vice President of Mission.
The only uncontested Vice President position, business administration, went to incumbent Michelle “My” Nguyen who was voted-in with a 92-percent approval rating.
All of the senate seats were uncontested or without candidates with the exception of Junior Class Representative which was a three-way race for two seats. The positions went to Patrick Sudlow and Justin Setareh while Craig Jordan came in just one vote short of Setareh to finish in third.
Jordan was not eligible to vote in his own race because his credits give him senior standing, despite being a junior, meaning he was only eligible to vote for Senior Class Representative candidates. ASUSF’s Electoral Governing Board is looking into the issue of discrepancies between credit-standing and year in school for next year.
A referendum to continue the MUNI pass program after MUNI increased fees for the passes to $110 per semester, up from $90, passed with 82-percent of students voting in favor of paying the higher price instead of discontinuing the program. It was the only referendum on the ballot.
1260 students, or roughly 26-percent of the undergraduate student body voted in the election, the largest number ever according to Nguyen, and far higher than the 10-percent who voted last year. Students who voted at the station setup outside the Market Café were given a coupon for a free Jamba Juice. An EGB survey found that 50-percent of voters said the Jamba promotion enticed them to go to the polls.
This is the first time in three years that the ASUSF presidential race has been contested. Last year Marquez planned to run against Platt for the position but was forced to drop-out of the race after it was discovered he did not have the 3.0 GPA required to run for president.
Since there was no pre-election polling, student support was hard to gauge going into election week yet most of the Senate Executive Board positions were perceived as being hotly contested. However, Marquez’s decisive victory comes as a surprise to many students who viewed him as a third party “Nader” candidate in relation to Platt and Coon.
Platt is a well recognized figure on campus who spent three years on Senate and is also an executive at USFtv, founded the Women in Media club and has performed in College Players plays, including “Vagina Monologues.” She is generally well-liked by students and was widely expected to win reelection. Meanwhile, Coon ran a high-profile campaign that Nguyen called “One of the best I’ve ever seen.” He enlisted the help of close friend Thomas Roche, a nightclub promoter and popular name on campus who hosted several election parties for Coon as well as a hip-hop concert in Crossroads during dead hour the week before elections.
When Marquez was announced the winner, Nguyen said she was shocked. “I knew Bobby had a lot of on-campus organizations that supported him but I really thought the race was between Jon and Alex,” she said.
Marquez credited his win to a grassroots effort. “I think just talking to students and being cordial is what got me the race,” he said. “People said they liked how approachable I am and how I give them straight answers.”
Marquez also made several campaign promises that attracted voters, including a proposal to spend $2000 of the $7000 stipend he would receive if elected president on an event for students.
Freshman Janet Glynn was not familiar with any of the presidential candidates but voted for Marquez because she liked his proposal to spend his stipend on students. “The other candidates [Coon and Platt] talked in vague terms about communication and involvement; it didn’t mean anything to me. Bobby was promising something concrete and I liked that,” she said.
However, Platt is critical of Marquez’s campaign promises and said that he has still not fulfilled the promises he made when running last year for Off-Campus Representative which included improving student parking and installing lockers for off-campus students. Platt said this year Marquez has made no effort to correct the parking shortage and that it is her, not him, who has been working on a resolution to provide lockers on campus. Platt called his plan to spend $2000 of his stipend on students an “outlandish claim.”
When asked if he planned to make good on the promise to host an event Marquez said, “Of course, It may not be until the spring semester but we’re going to do something. It will be whatever students decide, maybe a rock concert or an event in Crossroads, we will do a survey to see what they want.”
Platt cited a lack of free time as one of the factors that led to her defeat. “I didn’t have time to throw the kinds of campaigns Bobby and Jon did because I was busy being president,” she said. Both Coon and Marquez, as well as candidates for other positions, spent long hours canvassing high traffic areas on campus handing out pins, flyers and business cards.
This election season also saw a number of highly creative campaigns that incorporated a variety of promotional materials and events not seen in past elections. In addition to the traditional posters and Facebook groups, candidates made websites and T-shirts and one student, Al-Sharif, donned a costume around campus. “[Al-Sharif] campaigned endlessly, walking around all week in a super-woman costume,” said Nguyen.
In reaction to the results, Platt said, “I took it way better than I thought I was going to.” She is disappointed but already looking forward and hopes to focus her energy in other ways on campus, including by strengthening the Women in Media club she founded.
Jon Coon was unavailable for comment on this article but gave Marquez a congratulatory handshake before leaving the Green & Gold room where the election results were announced Thursday evening.
