Darnell Piece BSG President Elect	Randall Franklin BSG Vic-President Elect	Kyle Amendola BSG Treasurer Elect
By Caitlin Traynor, NEWS Editor Franklin, Pierce and Amendola (from left to right) won the BSG elections as vice president, president and treasurer, respectively.

Students choose BSG elects
By Evan N. Brengel
Copy Editor

After weeks of campaigning, debates, posters and Facebook groups, the 2007-2008 BSG election results were announced on Wednesday, April 4.  Votes from 895 students made the final decisions. Darnell Pierce and Randall Franklin will serve as President and Vice President, respectively, and Kyle Amendola will step into the treasurer position.

Will Mitchell and Michael Drickel will serve as on-campus representatives, while Lindsay Geyer was the only off-campus representative elected. This leaves one on-campus and four off-campus representitive spots open, as all three candidates ran unopposed for their spots.

“The students spoke, and chose the candidate who they felt was best qualified,” said BSG President Frank Guidice.

“We feel anxious and excited,” said Franklin upon their victory. “I am really looking forward to next year. It’s a whole new experience running a board and incorporating student’s ideas into that board.”

With a 138 point lead, Pierce and Franklin secured their place over opponents Bill Sachman and Josh Sliker.  Amendola beat out Kate Leet with a 183 vote lead, the largest lead in the race. Additionally, there were a total of 48 write-in ballots, the largest being for Josh Gamage and Chris Dailey. “I’m a little disappointed at the turnout but the national average is 2 percent, so we are well beyond that,” Guidice said.

Amendola was excited about a winning end to his campaign. “I plan to increase student involvement in all organizations and clubs by creating opportunities,” he said.  “From a financial standpoint I’d like to make sure all club officers are informed of the rules and regulations, how to better their programs and events, and how to take programming to the next level.”

According to Election Commission Chairperson Danielle Finn, “it was a pretty mellow election. We had no candidates disqualified … there was nothing slanderous, and no mudslinging involved,” Finn said.

Key: 1 – Pierce and Franklin – 475 2 – Sachman and Sliker – 338 3 – Gamage and Dailey - 44

Pierce echoed Finn’s remarks about the fairness of the race.

“We’re happy to know that we ran a clean race with no slandering, and we just focused on our goals that ultimately led us to our victory,” Pierce said.

To fill in the currently vacant board of directors seats, the election commission will be holding a fall election. “Basically it will run very similar to the spring election,”  Finn said.  “We will put out a notice that people can come in and pick up petitions, and the constitution says we have to give them 10 business days after that to get their signatures.  Those will be open for anyone to come in and get [a petition].”

Hard work can’t guarentee success as Sachman and Sliker realized with the election results.

“Both tickets ran a really good campaign,” Sachman said. “It’s unfortunate, because there always has to be a winner and a loser in an election and we were on the latter end.”

Despite being the runner up, Sliker was still satisfied with the work he put forth.

“It was a pretty cut and dry election,” Sliker said. Although he says he wouldn’t substantially change anything about their approach to the race, he believes they “could have been more open to strategies as far as campaigning goes.”

Kate Leet also plans to maintain her involvement in BSG despite losing this year. “I was disappointed obviously, but I’m just going to use it to get more involved in BSG,” Leet said.  “It was a learning experience for me. I really want to stay involved in BSG, and get involved with the programming, going to all the events and really be there to help out.”

Looking to the future for BSG, Pierce assessed that one of their main goals will be to “stay strong for the entire year.” Franklin and Pierce also expressed ideas about putting a barber shop in the Union basement, and increasing the availability of the escort service. “Our main focus is to enhance communication and just be present to students for the entire academic year,” Pierce said.