Mikkelsen named next ASUSU president
Erik Mikkelsen was named ASUSU president for the 2011-12 school year Friday after a successful campaign that put him more than 400 votes ahead of opponent Keenan Nuehring.
The first thing Mikkelsen plans on doing when he is inaugurated April 15 is unite the executive board so together they can accomplish more. He also plans to fulfill his campaign promise to put students first, to ensure the ASUSU council members recognize that they work for the student body and accomplish what the student body wants done.
About 5,000 students cast their votes this year, a 60 percent increase in voting from the 2010 ASUSU elections.
“More candidates ran for positions than ever before,” Nagao said. “The elections committee has worked hard to promote voting over the last month through social media and through direct contact with students. Elections would not have ran smoothly without the help of the dedicated volunteers. We also had more media coverage on campus which increased the awareness of elections.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say, these last couple of days have been crazy,” Mikkelsen said. “I would really like to thank my election committee, they did a good job getting more people to vote than ever before. They all worked tirelessly on the campaign.”
When presidential candidate Ben Williams lost in the primaries, he made the decision to endorse Nuehring; however, this was not enough to win Nuehring enough votes.
Nuehring said: “I feel OK. I have been telling people all week to read the platform statements, read the qualifications and to find out what is right for them and the student body. Whoever is right for the student body should be president. I am completely behind what the students want and I will support them in whatever I am doing.”
Mikkelsen’s roommate and member of his campaign, David Peterson, said the week involved drama but not between the candidates themselves. He said one of the main things that made the campaign members and supporters of each candidate emotionally charged was how close the primary election was between Nuehring and Mikkelsen. They then wanted to work harder to ensure their candidate won the most votes.
The Blue Goes Green fee, a student fee proposed to support sustainability on campus, passed with a 56 percent approval rating, meaning student fees will now include another $0.25 per credit.
Kate Gourley, a member of the sustainability council said, “We’re absolutely thrilled. Its exciting to have something pass that will really benefit the university… it has become the way of the future and will make the university more efficient and will get students involved in going green.”
Kirsten Frank was announced as the new ASUSU executive vice president while Kade Hansen, who began a write-in campaign beginning the day before primary elections, managed 330 votes.
“The loss was somewhat expected,” Hansen said. “I felt like it (running) was something I had to do. It was something I was completely capable of doing a quality job at.”
Frank said she feels the executive council for next year will be very efficient because they all know each other well and know how to work together. She said she has a lot of ideas that she is excited to implement and knows that everyone else does as well. One of her main hopes is that the people who did not win will stay involved.
Ryan “Ry Bay” Baylis was elected as the Athletics Vice President and won by more votes than any other race, beating Michael Woodfield by 1,634 votes.
“I would say that I felt like the definite underdog in this,” Woodfield said. “Ry Bay has his name out there and good friends that are involved in athletics. He did a heck of a job with his campaign and I knew that it would be a tough battle to win. So, I am really happy for him; he is going to do a great job with all of his experience and will make the necessary changes to The HURD and athletics. I am confident in that.”
Baylis said:”It’s funny because elections usually leave a sore taste in students’ mouths, they have to change their walking routes so that candidates don’t bug them, Facebook is absolutely spammed – although without it there’s no way I could have won – but to see the number of people who took the 30 seconds out of their life to vote is pretty crazy.”
Baylis said one of the differences he noticed was the candidates were using technology to their advantage, bringing iPads and laptops on their dorm-storm and while campaigning on campus.
“If you give the voter an option of doing it right then, it guarantees the candidate a vote instead of their flier just getting tossed right into the garbage,” Baylis said.
Maddie Busteed received 889 more votes for Service VP than her opponent Tasha Jorgensen, who is the current Service VP, winning by the second most votes in the election.
In the race for Programming Vice President, candidate Jackson Cozzens said he felt that fraternity membership gave his opponent and winner in the election, Zach Larsen, a definite advantage.
“I knew it was a close race all along,” Cozzens said. “I probably should have joined a fraternity before I ran.”
Erika Norton, the new College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) senator, said, “I”m excited to really work on implementing the things in my platform. In the meeting they talked about getting together with our opponents because they have great ideas too.”
Rhett Wilkinson, Norton’s opponent said, “It was definitely worth doing it. I knew I would be up for a tough competition going against Erika, we were both very qualified and had excellent platforms. I hope she carries hers out very well.”
Newly-elected engineering senator Riley Bradshaw is also the club coordinator for the College of Engineering Student Council. National Engineering Week took place the same week as election week and Bradshaw not only had to run his campaign, but take care of many events included in Engineering Week.
Bradshaw said, “I’m very tired … I’ve worked really close with the last two senators and I feel like I know my way around the position really well.”
The Huntsman School of Business was the most contested race. Scot Marsden triumphed over five other candidates included finals opponent McKell Lyman to become next year’s Business Senator,
“I’m ready to work,” Marsden said, ” its time to put the shoulder to the wheel.”
Marsden mentioned four core things he was looking to implement into the next school year: More professional opportunities with the school, practicing the soft skills of business, like communication, through a debate club or monthly debates, increasing global vision by learning from international students and continuing what Skyler Jenks, the current senator, has done.
– kayla.barclay@aggiemail.usu.edu
– allie.jeppson@aggiemail.usu.edu