San Diego State students shared reactions to the results of the 2017 Associated Students elections, which were announced around 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 16.
Electrical engineering senior Kevin Archangel said it was “tremendous” to see the entire Transform SDSU slate sweep the executive board elections, and specifically to see Chimezie Ebiriekwe win the A.S. presidency.
“It’s such an emotional atmosphere to see more history being made and to witness another black man take the president position,” Archangel said. “The emotions are really high right now and we just got to wait to see what comes next.”
Nursing junior Sheryl Warfield said although her preferred candidate, Ben Delbick, did not win the presidency, she is still optimistic about what lies ahead.
“I’m super excited about next year’s leadership,” she said.
Dylan Colliflower, the current A.S. vice president of external relations, said he was happy with the election results.
“The election went the way it should have went,” he said. “I feel like the most experienced people that have the potential to make a difference won their election.”
Speech, language and hearing sciences freshman Julia Moluf said she was excited about the election’s turnout, which at 20 percent was high compared to previous years.
“It gives me faith for our campus,” she said. “The fact people are involved and are passionate about who is leading our campus is reassuring.”
Moluf was also a candidate for student-at-large campus representative.
Interdisciplinary junior Kendall McCreary also said it was historic for the entire Transform SDSU slate to win a position.
“I think that hasn’t happened in like three or four years, and that’s just insane,” McCreary said.
She said she lived on the same floor as executive vice president-elect Vanessa Girard her freshman year
“Coming from seeing her be the first person I knew to get really involved on campus has just been an incredible journey as a friend, and I’m just really proud of her,” she said.
Kendall said she hopes the newly-elected executive board members hold to what they said they would do during their campaign.
“I just really hope that everything they talked about they ring true to, and they make a difference on campus and really support student organizations and the growth of the student organizations, and just really help the campus grow,” she said.
Public administration senior Connor James said as a member of Phi Kappa Theta, he is proud of A.S. Vice President-Elect of University Affairs Chris Thomas, who is the fraternity’s current president.
“He’s only excelled ever since he’s been a freshman,” James said. “I recruited him so seeing him grow this much and become a leader of our campus is an awesome sight.”
James said he wants to see the new executive board be the voice of the students, and he has confidence in their ability to do so.
“This is a really diverse time,” he said. “Not only politically, but on campus as well. And I feel that this executive board really can kind of be the voice of that and make the changes that are needed from the student body.”
Kinesiology sophomore Tomi Osinfolarin said he knows A.S. president-elect Chimezie Ebiriekwe personally and was happy with the election although he also liked some of the STRIDE SDSU slate’s candidates.
“I know (Ebiriekwe’s) work ethic,” he said. “But as for team STRIDE and the rest of their members, I really respect them compared to Chim’s team. I saw them more frequently, so a lot of them had my support.”
He said the STRIDE SDSU slate campaigned well, and it is unfortunate that none of them won a position.
Psychology junior Billy Carter, a member of Ebiriekwe’s fraternity, said the election results left him speechless.
“I have faith in (Ebiriekwe) with everything,” he said. “Chimezie is my little bro;he’s part of me, and I have good faith in him running this campus and with his team. That team is unstoppable.”
