Students will vote in the spring election March 31 through April 2 for Mr. and Ms. Nicholls and 2008-2009 Student Government Association president, vice president and arts and sciences senators; however, Student Programming Association will not hold elections because candidates for president and vice president are unopposed. Alexander Barnes, government senior from New Orleans and current SGA vice president; Matthew Marant, government junior from Houma and former SGA senator; and Amy Orgeron, nursing senior from Cut Off and current SGA senator, are running for SGA president.
Marquita Christy, nursing junior from Thibodaux and current SGA director of student rights and grievances, and Ryan Donegan, business administration sophomore from Thibodaux and current SGA senator, are running for SGA vice president.
Elections for SGA senators are only held when more than the maximum number of senators from a given college apply. The College of Arts and Sciences is the only college with a senators’ race this year with five students running to represent it. Four of the five will be elected.
Lawrence Briggs, government sophomore from Jefferson; Maggie Jones, mass communication sophomore from Thibodaux; John Kerry, government junior from Thibodaux; Amid Paudyal, chemistry sophomore from Thibodaux; and Jennifer Smith, mass communication junior from Houma, are running for Arts and Sciences senator. SPA President-Elect Alyssa Daigle, psychology junior from Plaquemine and current SPA president, and SPA Vice President-Elect Jennifer Smith, mass communication junior from Houma, ran unopposed and won their respective offices by acclimation.
Students will also be voting for Mr. and Ms. Nicholls. Names of the final nominees for Mr. and Ms. Nicholls could not be released as of press time because not all students had been notified.
Student Affairs has, however, confirmed there are three male nominees and two female nominees.
Student organizations nominate a male and female for Mr. and Ms. Nicholls consideration. An objective student committee chooses the final nominees to be voted on by the student body by employing a scoring system based on academic and co-curricular transcripts.
The system for choosing Mr. and Ms. Nicholls is the same system used to choose students nominated to “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities” and Nicholls Hall of Fame.
Points are awarded based on academic achievements, awards and scholarships and involvement in student organizations, such as Greek organizations, student media, athletics, and other organizations, with more points going to those who hold leadership positions. Nominees also receive points for service activities such as Orientation Team.
In the event of election results being contested, as seen in last year’s SGA presidential election, the SGA’s Election Commission would generally make a ruling with any appeals going before the Student Supreme Court. This year, however, all positions in both organizations are vacant during this election.
Because of the lack of officials to make a ruling, SGA Adviser Eugene Dial said the University would appoint a committee.
“In the absence of SGA fulfilling its obligation to have an Election Commission and Supreme Court in place, the University has a responsibility to appoint a representative student committee made up of students not involved in the process in order to make an objective decision,” Dial said.
The committee, Dial said, would apply the rules and guidelines set forth in the Student Election Code.
Dial also said he was not expecting any conflict with the results because the Student Election Code was revised this fall, which he said was very important to the election process.
