Students have elected Jennifer Qian ’22 and Maggie Johnston ’22 as Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively. The Qian-Johnston campaign ran on a platform of elevating student voices, increasing access to academic, financial and emotional resources; fostering an inclusive campus culture and bringing together the Dartmouth community.
The pair will succeed current SA president Cait McGovern ’21 and current SA vice president Jonathan Briffault ’21. Johnston wrote in an emailed statement that the newly elected pair’s tenure will begin upon McGovern and Briffault’s graduation in June.
A total of 1,531 ballots were cast in the election. Of the votes cast for SA president, Qian received 937 while her opponent, Attiya Khan ’22, received 569. SA vice presidential candidates Johnston and Sebastian Muñoz-McDonald ’23 received 927 and 581 votes, respectively. Any undergraduate student was eligible to vote in the election, according to Election Planning and Advisory Committee chair Zipporah Abraham Paiss ’23.
Turnout fell more than 20% from last year’s election, which saw 1,918 ballots cast, 387 more than this year. Spring enrollment figures are not yet available, but according to the Office of Institutional Research, 4,640 undergraduate students were enrolled in the winter and 4,725 in the fall.
“We’re really, really invested in our platform and just so proud that the student body entrusted us with the privilege of leading Student Assembly,” Qian said.
Johnston said she is looking forward to institutionalizing projects SA has been working on, such as the Dartmouth Coach voucher program and menstrual product access program. Qian added that she is excited for the SA committee on mental health to launch a pilot program with the Calm meditation app. The two have already reached out to various clubs and organizations, including the Sustainability Office and Student Accessibility Services Office, and plan to collaborate with others moving forward.
“We’re in a really rare time with the [COVID-19] vaccine and with everything that’s happened this year,” Johnston said. “I think we’re just really excited to start advocating for students and to push for as normal a Dartmouth experience as possible going forward.”
In an email statement, Attiya Khan '22 congratulated Qian and Johnston on their win.
"I'm incredibly proud students came forward to make their voices heard via this election," Khan wrote. "I hope that our ideas and voices will continue to be utilized, and students from outside of Student Assembly will feel empowered to run again in the future. It was an honor to participate, and an honor to share our hopes for a better Dartmouth."
Muñoz-McDonald expressed optimism for students taking agency in creating change within the student body and said that he and Khan hope to work with Qian and Johnston, as they have many “joint ideas.”
“I think we definitely both speak to different communities on campus,” Muñoz-McDonald said. “I think me and Attiya are both invested in change and I think Maggie and Jennifer are still invested in making a difference too.”
Muñoz-McDonald said the Khan-Muñoz campaign was a “message that the bare minimum is not acceptable” and raised awareness for the “desperate need for transparency” in student government.
Alexander Klein ’22 and Ramy Hanna ’22 were elected for senior class president and vice president, receiving 440 and 445 votes, respectively.
The Class Council executives for the Class of 2023 are Mubbie Idoko ’23, Salvatore Lupo ’23 and a to-be-determined write-in candidate. The Class of 2024 Class Council executives will be Alyssa LeBarron ’24, Emma Johnson ’24 and Karim Khalil ’24.
The Committee on Standards and Organizational Adjudication Committee elected Alexander Klein ’22, Molly McQuoid ’23, Sheen Kim ’23, Ophelia Woodland ’23, Molly Rudman ’23 and Claire Macedonia ’24. Because members are allowed to serve on the COS and hold a representative student body position, Klein will serve both as the Class of 2022 President and on the COS, according to Abraham Paiss.
Additionally, Chase Alvarado-Anderson ’23 and Kami Arabian ’24 will be serving as senators for Allen House, and Elliott Montroll ’23 and Jessica Chiriboga ’24 for North Park House. For South House, David Millman ’23 and Anthony Fosu ’24 will be senators. The East Wheelock House senators will be Gerol Fang ’23 and Jason Acosta Espinosa ’24. Sylvie Lamontagne ’24 will be the School House senator, and for West House, Finn Hulse ’23 and Kiara Ortiz ’24.
Seven members of the Senate will be write-in candidates: all six senators from the Class of 2022 and School House’s senator from the Class of 2023. Write-in results will be available in the “upcoming week,” Abraham Paiss wrote in an emailed statement.
Correction appended (Apr. 20, 2021): A previous version of this article stated that Qian and Johnston were initiating the pilot program with the Calm meditation app. The article has been updated to reflect that the SA committee on mental health is running the program.
