United Student Government (USG) elections began on April 11 and concluded on April 12. Following the close of the election period, the votes concluded that Santiago Vidal, FCRH ’24, and Ava Coogan FCRH ’25, will serve as executive president and executive vice president for the 2022-23 academic year.

As per their platform, Vidal and Coogan hope to improve student recruitment. Much of Fordham’s student body comes from the tri-state area; the pair hopes to expand that reach by addressing the needs of specific minority students on campus. They additionally pledge to rebuild trust between USG and the student body by including the latter in USG’s decision-making process and improving communication between the two entities. 

Internally, Vidal and Coogan intend to create Student Success policy groups. These groups would feature a group of senators specifically dedicated to helping students with academic and mental health issues. Additionally, within their general goal of improving communication between USG and the student body, the pair plan to rework the communications committee. Vidal and Coogan will also live stream USG meetings, send invites for all USG meetings to all students and centralize information from all university departments within USG. 

Within the senate, they hope to develop “non-voting delegates” for organizations on campus such as campus ministry, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL). The pair will place an emphasis on student academic achievement by creating class spotlights from different departments, supporting students in situations of nearly failing classes and opening up SEEQ class evaluations to the public. 

For diversity and inclusion initiatives, Vidal and Coogan aim to advocate for more financial aid for minorities and create more initiatives to reach out to the Bronx community. The pair also is looking to expand food options in the Marketplace and create more mental health resources for students during exam seasons. Lastly, the pair places an emphasis on sustainability by reducing the amount of waste in the Marketplace and looking for opportunities to recycle unused meal swipes to local homeless shelters. 

Vidal is the first international student to serve as executive president and has served on USG’s senate for the past two years. Coogan has no previous Fordham USG experience. 

The rest of the executive board of the 2022-23 academic year will be the following: 

Cole Mullins, FCRH ’24, will serve as vice president of student life. 

Jillian Choy, GSB ’24, is the new vice president of club operations. 

Alexander Chavez, GSB ’23, will be the vice president of finance and budget. 

Liz Shim, FCRH ’23, is the vice president of the sustainability committee. 

Briana Al-Omoush, FCRH ’24, will be the vice president of diversity and inclusion.

Gaby Simporios, FCRH ’24, was elected as the vice president of Fordham College Rose Hill (FCRH) dean’s council

For the Gabelli School of Business (GSB) dean’s council, Natalia Kimmelshue, GSB ’23, will serve as vice president.  

Farah Elrakhawi, FCRH ’24, will serve as vice president of health and safety. 

Carley Walker, GSB ’25, won the vote for vice president of communications and marketing. 

USG’s senate for the 2022-23 school year includes: 

Andrew Falduto, FCRH ’23, Keegan Roeder, FCRH ’23, and Maya Dominguez, FCRH ’23 as Fordham College Rose Hill’s senators for the class of 2023.  

Sean Power, FCRH ’24, Brian Inguanti, FCRH ’24, and Jaime Serruto, FCRH ’24, serving as senators for FCRH’s class of 2024.

Maria Narvaez, GSB ’24, who will represent the class of 2024 on the GSB senate. 

FCRH’s senate for the class of 2025, Andy Diaz, FCRH ’25, Molly Ewing, FCRH ’25, and Daniel Sponseller, FCRH ’25, will serve as senators. 

Tiberius Benaissa, GSB ’25, and Jack Glynn, GSB ’25, will be on the GSB senate for the class of 2025.