By Charlotte Dulany

Jonathan Allen was elected the University of Maryland’s student body president with 74 percent of the student vote on Friday.

Allen ran with Envision Maryland and defeated Humza Yahya, a junior accounting and information systems major, of Recognize UMD. Envision Maryland won all contested seats in the election.

Allen, SGA’s former speaker of the legislature, is a junior government and politics major with minors in technology entrepreneurship, and international development and conflict management.

“I understand how the governing bodies and the university works, and have worked with faculty, staff and administrators on various issues. I could utilize those relationships and that knowledge to effectively lead the SGA next year,” said Allen.

Two parties, Envision Maryland and Recognize UMD, ran in the University of Maryland SGA spring 2018 election to serve during the 2018-19 academic year. 

Platform

Envision Maryland hopes to create a more fair, equitable and accessible Maryland for students. The student organization framed its platform on student groups, campus climate, civic engagement, health and safety, quality of life and affordability.

“When writing our platform we made sure that the ideas were feasible and attainable, and that we had plans of action,” said Allen.

Recognize UMD ran on the platform of student groups, community health, academics and affordability.

Campus Issues

Envision Maryland says they stand with DREAMers, and look forward to bringing more gender-inclusive bathrooms to campus.

They also hope to address food accessibility, greater financing of open-source textbooks, reviewal of current shuttle hours and routes, and improved sustainability on campus.

Recognize UMD wanted to set up an insurance policy to cover events hosted by SGA-recognized groups and facilitate the use of the Student Activities Fee to support creative works and performances.

Mental Health

Candidates of Envision Maryland plan to work with the Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct to ensure the implementation of a sexual misconduct prevention plan on campus.

Recognize UMD advocated for increased mental health resources and support and wanted to develop proactive approaches to hate and bias incidents.

Affordability

Envision Maryland plans to work with university administration to lower the costs associated with graduation — including the $140 for a cap and gown.

If elected, Envision Maryland wants to ensure that student groups have all the resources they need to be successfully funded and to be transparent with students about where the $2,000 increase in student fees will be allocated.

Recognize UMD had planned to increase allowed borrowing times of laptops from libraries, expand Terpware to include more software, decrease mandatory athletic fees and encourage professors to use open-source textbooks.

Campaign

Envision Maryland campaigned in front of Mckeldin Library and campus dining halls for two weeks before the election.

“We want to emphasize voter turnout and SGA involvement,” said Alexander Kahn, sophomore architecture and government and politics major and Envision’s candidate for architecture representative. “In the first week of campaigning, there were a lot of people I talked to who had legitimate issues on campus that the party didn’t think to address.”

“The other party hasn’t been out here, and when it comes to the polls, I think that will show,” said Andrew Stover, sophomore public policy major and Envision Maryland’s candidate for vice president of financial affairs.

Recognize UMD engaged in “grassroots campaign tactics,” and spoke to students around campus about issues they want the SGA to address.

“I’m a regular student not previously affiliated with the SGA, and I know that students have issues they want addressed but they won’t always stop in front of McKeldin to voice them,” said Yahya.

Last Election

In 2017, two parties, One Party and Unity Party, ran for the 2017-18 academic year. One Party won all 38 SGA positions it ran for after the entire Unity Party withdrew from the race. A.J. Pruitt was elected student body president with 85 percent of the vote.

“A.J. has been a mentor to me who helped me understand how the university and SGA work, as well as the requirements and responsibilities of the student body president,” said Allen.

This year’s campaign period was extended to two weeks, and polls closed April 20 at 4 p.m. “The extension does require a bit more planning because you have to make sure everyone on your campaign is working hard but not exhausted by the end of the process,” said Stover.

Ajay Mahesh was the incumbent who ran for representative of School of Public Health legislature for the second year in a row.

“This year’s election is a more competitive election, and we hope to see more voters than last year,” said Mahesh, senior community health major.