When students vote through their Seton Hall email accounts on March 30, the community will determine whether to vote for sophomore diplomacy and international relations major Stefan Ferreira or sophomore diplomacy and international relations and economics major Julia Nicolls to serve as president of the student body. One of them will be replacing Rishi Shah as president, who has served as president for the past two years.
While this may be the most highly contested position in the upcoming election, numerous positions are up for grabs.
Ferreira said he decided to run in order to institute “common sense” goals. He said a few of his goals consist of including an accessible, itemized cost breakdown of each student’s tuition. Also, he wants to advocate for free feminine hygiene products on campus and implement student input in faculty hiring.
“At the end of the day, SHU relies on our tuition to operate, therefore we have a right to know how our money is spent,” Ferreira said.
Aside from his ambitions as president, he said that what separates him from his competitor is “my ability to show up, listen and get work done.”
Ferreira said after visiting over 40 student organizations, he believes that SGA financial policy in relation to SGA-sponsored student organizations is not clear and that some students do not feel as though their concerns are being validated.
“It also goes without saying, I’ve never worked a day in SGA for the clout, I’ve done it for students then and I’ll work for students now,” Ferreira said.
As Ferreira champions clear breakdowns of student’s tuition among other goals, Nicolls’ main campaign objectives have included tuition transparency and environmental sustainability on campus. Her additional goals pertain to diversity and inclusion, health services and counseling and psychological services (CAPS) and parking services.
Additionally, Nicolls’ campaign differs from Ferreira’s campaign as she is running on a ticket with sophomore diplomacy and international relations major Charles McGarry as her vice presidential nominee.
As a member of student government since her first week of freshman year, Nicolls said what separates her from her competitor is her ability “to be a team player and build coalitions with people and organizations on campus.” She said that is why she has been able to form an executive board ticket which includes McGarry, junior finance major Ronald Babiak, running for treasurer, and freshman diplomacy and international relations major, Raven Campbell, running for secretary.
“Since then I have learned through my own mistakes of contacting administrators and producing initiatives,” Nicolls said. “I have been fortunate to have success in my initiatives throughout the last two years and I plan on continuing that same momentum.”
Nicolls said that since she was a freshman, she founded SGA’s first and only executive agency, the Environmental Protection and Conservation Commission (EPACC), in which she works as the agency’s commissioner.
“Since I was appointed to the role, we have increased recycling at Seton Hall by increasing the number of locations across campus,” Nicolls said. “We have worked with other organizations on campus to co-host events including the Earth Day celebration last year. I have coordinated with the Faculty Senate to increase faculty use of technology over the use of paper in the classrooms.”
Moreover, during her time as commissioner she said she helped pilot environmental education into the University Life Curriculum, which will be implemented next fall. Also, as a freshman senator, she worked with the modern languages department to increase tutoring hours for less commonly taught languages. When she became the diplomacy senator last spring, she hosted diplomacy town halls, had a permanent seat on the Board of Overseers and fundraised for the School of Diplomacy and International Relations.
“I decided to run for this position because of the work I have been able to accomplish so far in SGA,” Nicolls said. “I have seen what myself and what my peers can do in this organization, so I know that this is a positive system to create lasting change at Seton Hall.”
Thomas Schwartz can be reached at thomas.schwartz@student.shu.edu.
