The Race for UT Student Government Elections is Over

By Anabella Cooper

Reporting Texas TV

AUSTIN, Texas – Helen Getachew and William Ramirez are the newly elected University of Texas Student Government president and vice president.

Student Government started on campus in 1902, and serves as a voice for the student body. It covers a wide range of projects to provide resources for students as well as act as a liaison between the university administration, Austin City Council and the state legislature.

The four teams who campaigned for the top leadership roles were Getachew and Ramirez, Diego Collazo and Brian Pena, George Boghs and Ana Fuentes, and Harsh Kumar and Marlene Weis.

Their campaigns launched Feb. 15 and voting took place online Feb. 27 and 28.

Teams tabled on Speedway, created social media platforms, spoke at debates on campus and created policies to showcase to students.

Freshman Morgan Sandford said she didn’t know the capabilities of Student Government, but saw posters from teams and was able to connect with what they were promoting.

“I think Student Government is important because it gives people a place to get to know others on campus and also gives students a place where they can learn about everything that goes on. [It’s] an area where we can grow as individuals and advocate for ourselves,” Sandford said.

Boghs and Fuentes said they spent 10 to 15 hours a week working on their pillar policies, some nights staying up until 2 a.m., and the team became family.

“I love our team,” Fuentes said. “I think something that we really did was make a familial bond. After voting, everyone [went] straight to Chili’s. You know, like we created such such a tight knit team.”

Boghs said his experiences with mental health inspired him to make it one of his policy pillars, to create change for others

“In the spirit of complete transparency, last semester, I withdrew from the university. So while it meant that I was still a student, I was not taking classes and I was really just struggling with my mental health and felt like I was having to come to terms with a lot of different things at once,” Boghs said.

Even though Boghs was not elected, he said he wants to see Student Government make a difference on campus.

“I hope that there is a constant for thought in terms of students lives, you have to represent all of the student body, not just students in the auto space, not just students in the social workspace or in miscellaneous org space… you’re representing all 50,000 students,” Boghs said.

Leland Murphy, the current Student Government President, said that because of everyone’s experience and research, every campaign had unique ideas that interest him.

Students and running candidates gathered in the William C. Powers Student Activity Center auditorium to hear the results on March 6.

Murphy and the 2022-2023 representatives started transition meetings with the newly elected representatives this week. The 2023-2024 team will officially take office on April 4.