Lucas Hjertberg, FCRH ’26, and Andrew McDonald, FCRH ’26, have won the positions of executive president and executive vice president for the Fordham University Rose Hill United Student Government (USG) for the 2025-26 academic year. Voting for this election opened for all Fordham students at the Rose Hill campus at noon on April 7 and ended at 5 p.m. on April 8.
Hjertberg previously served as executive president of USG for the fall 2024 semester before going abroad in spring 2025. Before that, he served as Vice President of Budgets and Finance and as a Fordham College Rose Hill senator. McDonald has not served on USG, but he did run for executive president for the 2024-25 academic year.
Their campaign platform advocates for transparency from USG and Fordham’s administration. They pledge to publish voting records of USG members and ensure that any student can run for USG regardless of previous experience. Along the campaign trail, they promised, “No more unchecked power, no more backroom politics, no more barriers between students and the government that represents them.”
The Ram called Hjertberg and McDonald for comments on their win.
“First, I just want to say thank you to all those people who helped us out and door knocked and reposted on their Instagram,” said Hjertberg. “It means the world to have their support and especially coming off an election last year, to see that they still have faith in me but also in the institution is nice to see.”
Hjertberg is currently studying abroad in Madrid but said he is excited to get to work when he returns. One issue they hope to address is the safety of the Fordham students who recently had their visas revoked by the Department of Homeland Security.
“What I think is really important is that we get transparency from the administration and if Drew and I can apply pressure in the right way to ensure that, or even if we were the mode of communication to let students know updates as often as possible,” he said.
McDonald shares Hjertberg’s sentiments.
“Thank you for putting your trust in Lucas and I,” he said. “We’re an unconventional pairing but we know it’s going to work out well.”
McDonald says he and Hjertberg want to tackle “the small procedural things.” They plan to start with bylaw changes that they could realistically enact within a short timeframe.
Hjertberg and McDonald received 621 votes, while Ruzicka and Rodriguez received 483 votes.
Compared to the 2,370 votes in the 2024-25 USG election, the turnout is significantly less this year with 1,104 total votes.
The remaining members of the executive board for the 2025-26 academic year are as follows:
Tina Pathak, FCRH ’28, will serve as vice president of operations.
Luc Angus, FCRH ’26, will serve as vice president of student experience.
Peter Grimes, FCRH ’26, will serve as vice president of budget and finance.
Yeonsu Son, FCRH ’27, will serve as the vice president of communications.
Mary Hawthorn, FCRH ’26, will serve as vice president of FCRH.
Hunter Gholson, GSB ’26, will serve as vice president of the GSB.
Aidan Costella, FCRH ’27, will serve as vice president of health and security.
Laila Sayegh, FCRH ’27, will serve as vice president for diversity and inclusion.
Ayden Johnson, FCRH ’27, will serve as vice president of sustainability.
Maddie Ando, FCRH ’27, will serve as vice president of facilities and dining.
Jenny (Yeju) Hong, FCRH ’28, will serve as vice president of international integration.
The class senators for the 2025-26 academic year are as follows:
Ava Cascella, Joseph Onorato and Anna Wiss will serve as the Fordham College at Rose Hill senators for the class of 2026. Wiss was elected as a write-in candidate for the senate swing seat.
Cate Dalton, Anna Brown and Katelyn Martins, will serve as the Fordham College at Rose Hill senators for the class of 2027.
Audrey Shooner, Whitney Egbe and Regan Healy will serve as the Fordham College at Rose Hill senators for the class of 2028.
Sarah Bayas and Coffee Dinh will serve as the Gabelli School of Business senators for the class of 2028.
