BC elects Palillo to lead SGA

Katie Palillo, BC ’10, was elected Student Government President Wednesday after an extended campaign period led to the largest Barnard voter turnout in recent years.

Palillo, the current vice president of communications, trumped council Technology Director Karen Kwan, BC’10, with 73 percent of the vote. Kwan has spent her junior year abroad and campaigned from Greece.

Palillo will be joined on the Executive Board by newly elected Vice President of Student Government Kimberly Wu, Vice President of Student Activities Amy Chen, Vice President of Communications Giselle Leon, and Vice President of Finance Sharmin Ahmed, all BC ’10.

According to SGA President Sarah Besnoff, BC ’09, voter turnout increased from one third of all students last year to 41.5 percent this year.

Besnoff said she believes that a major contributor to this substantial increase in turnout was the extended campaigning period.

“Last year there were only three days, and two overlapped with actual voting,” Besnoff said. “People didn’t know elections were happening until it was over.”

Palillo said that she hopes to foster an understanding within the Barnard community of the SGA’s role as both a governing board and a student council. After two years as the SGA liaison to the Engineering Student Council, she said she would like to further the SGA relationship with other student councils. She said she also plans to help student groups make the move to Nexus space, and ensure that they understand funding options.

Wu, who won with 52 percent and served on the SGA Committee for Diversity, said that she and Leon hope to collaborate to make town halls more accessible and worthwhile for student attendees.

Ahmed, who was elected with 68 percent of the vote and is new to SGA this year, aims to increase efficiency and transparency in finance allocations to SGA-recognized organizations. Ahmed also said she would like to find a way to alleviate the rocky turnover period between governing boards, and wants to start a blog to foster communication between graduating seniors and remaining students. “Whatever students learn in their experiences, I want them to share it--with not just their group, but other SGA-recognized groups.”

Chen and Leon were elected with 55 and 44 percent of the vote, respectively.

Most of the other representative and class council elections were uncontested, though current 2012 class vice president Bo Yun Park edged out class president Charlie Dinkin for the top slot with 56 percent of the vote.