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Willie Dean poses for a picture at the Student Leadership Banquet on April 19 after being announced as the SGA's new president.

SGA elections come to a close

By: Mitch Ogletree

Posted: 4/26/07

The votes are in on the new elected officials for next year's Student Government Association (SGA) leaders.

Willie Dean, a Middle Grades Education major from Tifton, locked in the vote to become the new president of SGA after Jason Chapman, the current president, ends his term.

In a statement from his application for the election process, Dean wrote that "great leaders never settle for mediocrity; they always strive for excellence."

The three front-runners for the position of president were Dean, Paula Rogers, and Zachary Tomberlin, all active students with a history in student government.

Dean served as an ABAC Ambassador and freshman class president in the past.

According to the SGA Constitution, all ABAC students who pay the activities fee are allowed to vote at designated election sites or on the SGA Web site.

The voter turnout was characteristically low with only eight percent of ABAC students casting a ballot.

"I was happy with the turnout, because last year only three percent voted," Paula Rogers, current SGA secretary and former presidential nominee, said.

Despite the slight increase in turnout, the long-standing record of student apathy concerning the election process is a problem that cannot easily be solved.

"The voter turnout was just appalling," Gail Dillard, vice president of Student Affairs and Administrative Advisor for the SGA, said.

After the votes were counted, over 80 people in attendance heard the announcement declaring Dean's new position on April 19 at the Student Leadership Banquet.

Even though students do not seem to realize their ability to address important issues through the SGA, the small percentage who vote continue to keep the democratic process, as well as the politics of student government at ABAC, alive and well.