January 25’s special election for Mercer’s Student Government Association featured a hotly contested battle for one Senator-at-Large spot and three Junior Class Senator spots.
After a few good solid days of campaigning on the sidewalks of Mercer and the Facebooks of its students, Eric Ennuson won the Senator-at-Large position, beating out Sean Kennedy, Daniel McNeill, Rainea Cumberbatch, Michael Lopez, and a few other candidates.
Ennuson was rumored to have won the election by a slim margin, according to those in Kennedy’s campaign.
As for the Junior Senator positions, Gayle-Anne Hendricks, Joshua Lovett, and Lexi Senic won the coveted positions. All three were vocal about getting results in SGA, but they were cautious. The increase of transparency of SGA is an issue for all organizations that legislate for constituents, and these three want to boost it even more, due to the average Mercer student not knowing what SGA does on a weekly basis.
Hendricks ran on a platform that promised a more open medium for students to have their ideas heard on SGA. “I want to help lower the carbon footprint of Mercer. Whether it is recycling, different trash policies, or something else in the green tech realm, SGA can help with fixing this issue,” Hendricks said. With a recent proposal to fund more recycling bins on campus, Hendricks’ ideas are even more important to be heard.
Josh Lovett served on SGA once before, and he felt that he could offer the student body quite a bit. His friend, someone who is also very involved and active on campus, Lexi Senic ran as well. Both of them were more than ready to get ideas across. “For a long time, both of us felt that there were certain problems and issue on campus that needed to be fixed. For one, we both want to see the 24 hour Finals Week at the library again, because that was a great thing. In addition, we want to continue the growth of Mercer pride that has been so visible at basketball games lately. SGA can help lead this charge,” Senator-elect Josh Lovett said. Senic and Lovett both want to further the green movement on campus, but they want it to be responsible and efficient growth.
Newly elected Senator-at-Large Eric Ennuson was very humble in his win, thanking all of his opponents, along with asking all of them to stay involved and have their voices heard. All four candidates will begin serving in their positions as soon as possible, to ensure that the SGA has a full sample of the campus population.
