By Michael Charbonaugh

After a special election on Thursday, Jan. 22, Stanley Stilwell, GSB ‘15 and Alex Zamora, GSB ’18, have been chosen to fill two vacant senator positions within United Student Government. The announcement comes after two senators, Cara Jacaruso, GSB ’15, and Christine Phelan, GSB ’18, gave up their positions due to class schedules that conflicted with USGs regular meeting times.

According to USG President Nevin Kulangara, GSB ’15, Jacaruso and Phelan worked to rearrange their schedules, but could not find a way to reconcile their classes with their USG commitments. Kulangara considered changing the USG schedule to accommodate them, but could not find a time that would work for everyone involved. Jacaruso and Phelan had no other choice but to give up their Senate seats.

“At the end of the day, we’re students first,” said Kulangara. “Everyone supports them in their decision.”
As a result, USG held a special After a special election on Thursday, Jan. 22, Stanley Stilwell, GSB ‘15 and Alex Zamora, GSB ’18, have been chosen to fill two vacant senator positions within United Student Government. The announcement comes after two senators, Cara Jacaruso, GSB ’15, and Christine Phelan, GSB ’18, gave up their positions due to class schedules that conflicted with USGs regular meeting times.

According to USG President Nevin Kulangara, GSB ’15, Jacaruso and Phelan worked to rearrange their schedules, but could not find a way to reconcile their classes with their USG commitments. Kulangara considered changing the USG schedule to accommodate them, but could not find a time that would work for everyone involved. Jacaruso and Phelan had no other choice but to give up their Senate seats.

“At the end of the day, we’re students first,” said Kulangara. “Everyone supports them in their decision.”

As a result, USG held a special election on Jan. 22 to fill the two open spots. Candidates had to introduce themselves to the senate, present their ideas and answer questions from the senators, after which the senate held a private discussion and voted. Stilwell ran uncontested for Jacaruso’s vacant seat, but Zamora beat out two other freshman challengers to fill Phelan’s position.

Both Stilwell and Zamora had considered running for a USG position before, and when the two Senate seats opened up, they decided to act.

“Running for a USG position has always been in the back of my mind since my freshman year,” said Stilwell via email, noting that “other obligations” had prevented him from running earlier.

Zamora was planning on waiting to run for a position, but changed his mind once he saw the vacancy announcement.

“I actually decided I wanted to run next year because I have always enjoyed politics [and] student government,” he said, also via email.
Stilwell and Zamora touted their prior leadership experience and campus involvement to win over the Senate. Stilwell pointed to his time as a Resident Assistant and as a member of the men’s crew team, as well as his earlier work on the USG Budget Committee and Operations Committee, as indicative of his “teamwork, time management and leadership” skills.

Zamora entered the race with experience as director of finance for the mock trial team. He said his involvement there has allowed him to become “quite familiar with how both Office of Student Leadership and Community Development and the Budget Committee work.” In addition, he is also a member of the Finance Society, Alternative Investments Club and the pending approval Investment Banking Society. His said his strong extracurricular background helped him edge out his opponents.

“I made sure to communicate that I have plenty of prior leadership experience,” Zamora said, “and that I am someone who gets things done and collaborates well with others.”

Looking ahead, the two Senators will have shorter terms than their peers, which means less time to implement new initiatives and policies. Stilwell said he will use the “time crunch” as motivation to work even harder to achieve the goals he set out during his introduction to the Senate on Thursday. One of those goals is to make it easier for students to use study rooms in the library and elsewhere.
“I ran on the initiative of a potential library study room reservation system,” he said, adding that he plans to expand that system “to other multipurpose rooms across campus.”

He has already begun working on the initiative with the USG Vice President of the Gabelli School of Business, Kosta Demopoulos, GSB ’15.

Zamora said that although he has “no concrete plans” for this semester, he is interested in working on Fordham Student Holdings, the proposed student business and entrepreneurship incubator Kulangara is spearheading this year.

Although their terms have just begun, Kulangara said that he is already very impressed with the two new Senators.

“I think he’s a great fit for the Senate,” he said of Stilwell. “Everyone vouched for Stanley and his experience, a lot of people on the senate already knew him.”
Noting that he won in a race against two other very qualified freshman candidates, Kulangara also expressed his admiration for Zamora.

“It was pretty impressive to see that much involvement from a freshman,” he said, adding that Zamora arrived at the special election well-versed in USG’s plans and policies. “He read up on our mid-year report, he came prepared. He knew what we had been working on, but he also gave suggestions on how we can improve, so that’s exactly what we’re looking for.”