The Student Government Association (SGA) at Georgia Tech has long played a role in improving campus by increasing student involvement in the administration of the Institute. 

Voting for both undergraduate and graduate leadership roles are now underway at www.elections.gatech.edu through April 13. Students are encouraged to read the platforms and participate in the campaigns. 

“SGA has a good relationship with our administration, and the administration respects what the leaders of SGA have to say,” said Jennifer Abrams, undergraduate SGA president. “It’s important for students to vote so that they know they have someone in place who is willing to advocate for them and stand up for them, even if they can't always identify with their situation.”

The 2016 campaign is unique due to the number of candidates and their diversity. There are four pairs of candidates running: Brian Shin and Megan Fechter, Anju Suresh and Ben Nickel, Nagela Nukuna and Shane Mudrinich, and Sara Dada and Andrew Perry.

“Four tickets is pretty unusual, and as everyone has noted, there are three women running for president,” Abrams said. “Even more, all of the presidential candidates are minorities.”

The platforms cover a variety of topics. From mental health to campus transportation, the candidates have plans to solve a wide range of issues on campus.

Brian Shin and Megan Fechter

Shin and Fechter have focused their platform on three main components: transparency, safety, and inclusivity.  The idea of transparency is to allow the student body to have a better understanding of SGA and what the organization does on campus. The goal of safety is to provide additional transportation options on campus and to deal with the concerns regarding passing of the campus carry bill, sexual violence, and student mental health. Inclusivity covers embracing Tech’s diversity in backgrounds, beliefs, and talents by partnering with different student organizations on campus to foster cross-cultural and organizational events. The pair’s ultimate goal is to “put the ‘us’ back in ‘campus’."

Anju Suresh and Ben Nickel

The tagline of Suresh and Nickel’s platform is “We Are Tech,” which encapsulates the fact that they spoke to a diverse range of student groups on campus to understand different perspectives to create a more comprehensive platform. Both Suresh and Nickel currently serve on the SGA President’s Cabinet as VP of Internal Affairs and VP of Communications, respectively, and have extensive experience working with campus administrators. Some highlights of their campaign include a campus well-being survey, expanding access to study space, and increasing late night transportation through Uber. They also focus on diversity and inclusivity, upholding social responsibility, overall wellness, and sustainability.

Nagela Nukuna and Shane Mudrinich

Nukuna and Mundrinich have designed their platform according to the acronym "WE CAN.” (“W” for Wellness and Personal Success; “E” for Enhanced Parking and Transportation; “C” for Campus Inclusivity and Diversity; “A” for Academic Concerns and Student-Oriented Programs; and “N” for New Student Resource Improvements.) They envision a campus where students of all backgrounds, cultures, and identities have equal opportunity and access to achieve the highest degree of success as they define it. A few of their initiatives include creating a mental health nexus portal on BuzzPort to quickly connect students with resources that fit their needs, creation of an Interfaith Center, and synchronizing the anonymous numerical data from Course Instructor Opinion Surveys into Course Critique to improve student expectations of classes.

Sara Dada and Andrew Perry

Dada and Perry’s mission is to inspire a positive culture change on Georgia Tech’s campus. They have identified issues where wellness, transparency, and campus communities overlap — and how these problems can be tackled by improving upon existing resources and implementing new ones. They hope to use their leadership experiences from all over campus to represent the desires of the student body in SGA and focus their platform on tangible action items to change campus from the inside out.

Graduate Student Government Association 

The Graduate Student Government is also holding elections April 8-13 for president and vice president. David Scripka, who is studying Materials Science and Engineering, and Quintin Kreth, studying Public Policy, are running for president and vice president, respectively. 

Graduate Student Government comprises an Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch. Some of its initiatives this year were implementing a graduate student experience survey, increasing communication among graduate students, and restructuring the Graduate Student Senate. 

“Graduate students at Georgia Tech represent more than 30 percent of the total student population and face many unique and difficult challenges over the course of their master’s or Ph.D. programs,” Scripka said. “In my past two years in Graduate SGA, I have been inspired by the dedication of my fellow graduate students and motivated by their passion to help create a better Georgia Tech. I look forward to continuing to serve the graduate student community as the next graduate student body president.”

To learn more about the candidates and their platforms, view their websites below; and remember to vote from April 8-13. 

“The SGA president and vice president really represent the student body externally for Georgia Tech, and it is important to pick people who you think will do that very well,” Abrams said.