It’s almost Student Government Association (SGA) election time again for Ramapo students with voting starting in less than a week. Eighteen candidates are running for 2024-25 in a variety of positions, with two teams campaigning for the presidency and vice presidency.
Victor Oluwagbemi & Oliver Mejia
Junior Victor Oluwagbemi and junior Oliver Mejia, the current SGA president and vice president respectively, are running for reelection. With nearly a whole semester already under their belts, which has allowed them to strengthen their communication and problem-solving skills together, they feel ready to tackle another academic year as a team.
“[This semester] gave us like a good gauge as to what we’re capable of and what we can be capable of if we’re the next president and [vice president],” Oluwagbemi said in an interview with The Ramapo News.
Oluwagbemi has been a part of the SGA since the start of his sophomore year in fall 2022. He was initially on the Judicial Panel as chief justice and played a major part in restructuring it to improve its functioning. He moved into the role of vice president for fall 2023 before becoming president this spring.
Mejia joined SGA this past fall as the secretary of public relations and has since transitioned into the vice president role. Mejia said that his previous experience informs one of his and Oluwagbemi’s goals of increasing transparency with the student body.
Building a community on campus is another of the duo’s major concerns. They want to focus on “bridging the gap” among various clubs and organizations and have already begun working toward this through an initiative called “Clash of the Clubs,” which will bring clubs together in a competitive but fun environment.
“We’re not really here just for the position… It’s more so trying to create a lasting impact that’ll benefit not just the SGA but the campus overall,” Oluwagbemi said.
Christine Defeo & Janelle Boamah
Junior Christine Defeo and junior Janelle Boamah are the other running mates for president and vice president. Similar to Oluwagbemi and Mejia, the two are close friends and joined SGA as sophomores in the fall of 2022.
The foundation of Defeo and Boamah’s campaign is to increase transparency and accessibility to the SGA for the student population. One way they plan to achieve this if elected is by livestreaming SGA’s weekly general meetings, which would especially allow more access for commuter students who can’t be on campus in the evenings.
“A lot does go on in these meetings, and we want students to be able to know what the SGA is here for and what we want to do for students,” Boamah said in an interview.
Presidential candidate Defeo has held the secretary of programming position for two years, which she feels has allowed her to learn how to be a leader, delegate tasks to others and handle constructive feedback. Boamah, the vice president candidate, was previously the Contemporary Arts school senator before becoming a senator-at-large this year.
They believe they can bring unique perspectives to SGA leadership because Defeo is a commuter and transfer student and Boamah is an educational opportunity fund student. They want to focus on forging stronger relationships with groups of students who may often feel excluded.
Defeo and Boamah have had lots of time to strengthen their teamwork abilities as they also collaborate as part of the College Programming Board’s e-board. They feel they balance each other out and bring different ideas to the table.
“Where I lack, she picks up. Where she lacks, I pick up,” Defeo said. “We both on any given day will equal 100 [percent].”
Other SGA Candidates
Other positions in the upcoming election include treasurer, secretary, school senators and senators-at-large. Social Sciences and Human Services school senator looks to be the most competitive category with four students running: freshman Ava Cicero-Johnson, junior Alexandra Dionisi, freshman Alex Frisch and sophomore Amanda Shortt.
Voting will be open from Monday, April 15 until Wednesday, April 17 at noon, with the results being announced April 18. Students can expect to receive their ballot via their Ramapo email.
“I cannot overstate the importance of people other than those already in the SGA voting in this election,” Defeo said. “I just want people to feel like they have a say in what’s going on.”
rgatherc@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by William Jackson
