Council sees shift in power

Student Power! received its first taste of victory Thursday
night, as the results of the Undergraduate Students Association
Council runoff election were announced.

Student Power! won two additional seats in the runoff elections,
giving it more representation on council.

Since slates are made of students with similar ideologies, some
question whether unity will exist on next year’s USAC since
there is a mixture of officers and a clash of ideologies.

Newly elected USAC President Jenny Wood and newly elected
External Vice President Jeannie Biniek screamed along with the
Student Power! supporters the moment they heard their names
announced.

The two wins helped the Student Power! slate pull a total of
three seats on council, while the Bruins United slate holds seven
offices ““ three independent candidates were elected to office
last week.

Wood stressed that “regardless of slate differences, its
going to be a productive council because a lot of issues in terms
of platforms can still be worked on.”

“Hopefully through much dialogue, we can come to a better
understanding to implement what is best for the students,”
Wood added.

Elected officials from Bruins United also expressed optimism for
the future interactions between elected officials from both
slates.

“Hopefully it will be easier to work with one another. …
It will bring us to some form of compromise, which is something
we’ve been missing in USAC for a very, very long time,”
said Brian Neesby, one of next year’s general
representatives, who ran with Bruins United.

Ryan Smeets, next year’s Financial Supports commissioner
and another member of Bruins United, said working together with
groups is Bruins United’s priority, and that includes working
with Student Power! officers.

“Even though they represent a small minority of this
campus, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to work with
them. We want to reach out to them even more, to bring them into
the net of everyone that is Bruins United,” Smeets said.

Bruins United candidates stressed making connections with a
broad spectrum of groups in order to ensure strong relations next
year.

Even though they will hold a majority on council, Smeets said
Bruins United will not force policy changes.

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