Campaign season begins this week after nominations to compete in the Spring Graduate and Undergraduate Student Government election closed March 22.
Undergraduate students will elect a president, vice president and senators, while graduate students pick a president, vice president and treasurer. All members of the student body will elect a student trustee, who is charged with representing UMass Boston on the Board of Trustees that oversees all campuses in the UMass system. Each campus designates a student trustee to attend board meetings and provide updates to their campus. One campus’s student trustee has voting power each year, on a rotating basis.
For USG, candidates for President and Vice President run together on a ticket, with the president being the chief executive and primary representative of the USG and the vice president being their second-in-command. The president and vice president also appoint cabinet secretaries to support their platform.
Senators are members of the USG who serve on one of three committees and vote on issues related to their specific committee. These committees include the Student Organizations and Finance Committee, the Public Relations and Community Collaboration Committee or the Academic and Campus Policy Committee.
The student governments are responsible for the budgeting of the Student Activities trust fund, comprised of fees charged to each student upon their enrollment. The USG allocates funds to the more than 100 undergraduate student organizations on campus, while the Graduate Student Government primarily funds opportunities for research, professional development and community-building initiatives.
USG is composed of representatives from all of UMass Boston’s academic colleges and senate administers. According to their page on UMBeInvolved, the job of the USG is to “address issues that affect the undergraduate student experience at UMass Boston, representing students from UMass Boston.”
GSG is also composed of an executive board and a network of graduate student representatives.
Assistant Director of Student Activities Bethany Tuller said student government is creating real change for UMass Boston students. “Student Government can impact campus in many different ways; there are the tangible impacts like the Aunt Flo menstrual product dispensers on campus — that was a project spearheaded by USG members — and then there are the more unseen impacts like students having a voice on faculty and administrative search committees,” Tuller said.
Tuller, who advises USG, was also part of her own student government in college. As an adviser, she frequently meets with student leaders to provide them support in their roles and helps student organizations with navigating processes within student
“I also think being a member of student government is great for professional and leadership development; you get to work on a team with people you may never have crossed paths with at UMB,” she said.
The campaigning period begins March 25. Candidates will discuss their policies and platforms at a debate in April. Polls open April 13 at 8 a.m. and close at 11:45 p.m. April 16. Voting will take place on UMBeInvolved. Winning candidates’ responsibilities will start next semester. If Senate seats remain open, they will be filled by a special election in the fall.
Tuller encouraged students to get involved. She said, “You don’t need any Student Government or leadership experience to join USG, so don’t hesitate to nominate yourself if you are thinking about it.”