Ramesh C. Reddy
Publisher

 You have to wonder whether students like driven people in general. These past three years, the DRIVEN slate has swept Student Government Board elections. Whoever ran for SGB President and Board from this slate has won the past three years.

            During celebration of his victory current board member and president elect Joe Pasqualichio was excited about students choosing the DRIVEN slate three years in a row.

President elect Joe Pasqualichio uses gavel in president's office

            “I think I am going to retire the DRIVEN slate now”, said Pasqualichio

            Let us not forget the Homecoming elections for the past three years which have been dominated by a Chi Omega sorority sister. Interestingly, DRIVEN slate has always had a Chi Omega sister running for board.

            Current board member and recent president of Chi Omega, Elizabeth Blasi told Pasqualichio that we should always have a Chi Omega sister running on the DRIVEN slate if it is not retired.

President elect Joe Pasqualichio holds on to his girl friend Elizabeth Blasi

              There is no patent on slates so anyone could choose the DRIVEN slate even if Pasqualichio wanted to retire it. What is interesting is that a Chi Omega sister has always received the trust of the student body and the highest votes among the female candidates running for the past three years.

            After Blasi passes the torch of Chi Omega to its new president, with the right leadership we believe the students will continue to trust any Chi Omega sister to lead the student body in SGB elections.

            This year sophomore and Board elect Allison Winn of the DRIVEN slate and a Chi Omega sister received the highest number of votes from the student body with 1597 votes. Winn has been instrumental in working with the Food committee in collaboration with Sodexho to get students what they want as managers of Sodexho have listened to her and the food committee’s concerns and feedback.

            Chi Omega sorority should be proud of having couple of its members be part of the food committee as a whole to care for the needs of the student body. Current board member Elizabeth Blasi leads the food service committee and the DRIVEN slate has emphasized its desire to get students what they want in food services as they work in cooperation with management in a proactive way rather than a reactive way.

            It is not surprising that students care for food a lot and what they are eating. All candidates who have already worked to improve food services and intend to do more such as the DRIVEN slate, RESOLUTIONS slate, and PROVEN slate have swept the elections for board.

            Pasqualichio, Winn, and Shady Henien of the DRIVEN slate have already received the respect of management from Sodexho for their work for students in food services in collaboration with them.

From left to right: Shady Henien, Joe Pasqualichio, and Allison Winn

             Board elect Aimee Kleer of the RESOLUTIONS slate and board elect Joe Leinbach of the PROVEN slate have also emphasized food services in their platform and have received the support of the student body to get on board.

            This analysis tells shows that students care deeply about food services and what they are eating. They were willing to elect those who already made contributions to food services by working with management to get students what they want such as the DRIVEN slate! They were also willing to elect others such as Kleer and Leinbach to work with the DRIVEN slate to continue to make changes to food services which management have been very receptive of because of their care for students.

            Those emphasizing food services in their platform got more than 1400 votes. SGB elections are not focused on food services alone but we found it interesting that students voted these candidates who talked about food services. We hope the RESOLUTIONS and PROVEN slate winners will work with the food committee in cooperation with Sodexho management for the sake of the students.

            In the past we have had those who wanted to destroy Sodexho rather than work with Sodexho as the DRIVEN slate has. We hope the RESOLUTIONS and PROVEN slate will do the same including the rest of the members of the newly elected board.

            The analysis also shows that students care deeply about diversity.  Slates such as DRIVEN, OPEN MINDS, and BREAK THE MOLD all had members who emphasized diversity win a seat on board.

            The analysis also shows that students do not care as much about INSPIRING PITT PRIDE and TRADITIONS at the University of Pittsburgh as they care about other issues. It is sad that not one member of these slates got on board. Especially, the slate of TRADITIONS did not even break the 1000 mark for votes.

            Overall, the students chose candidates who they wanted to work for them. This board will make the student body proud by working together to implement the platform ideas of their slates in cooperation with university administrators and staff as opposed to in retaliation as some have tried to do in the past.

 The results of the elections with more analysis to follow:

Pasqualichio of DRIVEN slate pummeled Ransom of PROVEN slate taking in 59.83% of the vote as he beat Ransom by 590 votes. In comparison to Salvatore, Pasqualichio squashed Salvatore taking in 61.60% of the vote as he beat Salvatore by 686 votes. Pasqualichio destroyed Gookin taking in 72.50% of the vote as he beat Gookin by 1114 votes.

Current incumbent and board elect Anukem of PROVEN slate was edged out by Henien of DRIVEN slate.

Newly elect board member Winn of DRIVEN slate edged out Powers of RESOLUTIONS slate.

Overall having the elections online proved to be a success in the history of SGB elections because of the turnout vote.

In booth elections, it was hardly impossible to lose an election if you had at least 1000 votes. The online elections make SGB a whole new ball game!

All Photos by Ramesh C. Reddy

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