The Ithaca College Student Governance Council released the elected candidates who will serve on the executive board and senate for the 2024–25 academic year on May 3 in an Intercom post. Candidates ran for 13 positions out of 32 open positions across the e-board and senate, which all have year long terms.

Three candidates ran for vice president of academic affairs and two candidates ran for vice president of business and finance, while the remaining eight candidates ran unopposed. 

The candidates presented their campaign platforms April 23 and voting opened April 29 on IC Engage. 

The senate chair position will be determined by the senate in the council’s May 6 meeting. 

To qualify as the senate chair the applicant must be an SGC member who has been on the council for at least a year. The chief of staff position will be selected by the president. 

Elected Candidates

Sophomore Rishabh Sen was elected to be the president of the student body with 300 votes and 28 votes of no confidence, meaning that the voter chooses to abstain from voting for that candidate. Sen had no opposition and is taking over the role from senior Carli McConnell. 

Sen said that he is looking forward to working in his new position and is excited to start working toward his initiatives as president of the student body.

“I feel really excited and honored to be serving as the President of the Student Body for the Student Governance Council,” Sen said. “I have been passionate about SGC throughout my last two years as the VP of Campus Affairs, and I am looking forward to growing more as a leader and student in this new role.”

First-year student Eva Horst, current Class of 2027 senator, was elected vice president of campus affairs with 274 votes and 54 votes of no confidence. Horst ran with no opposition and took over the role from Sen.

First-year student Yusef Scott–Wetherbee was elected to be the vice president of academic affairs with 149 votes. Wetherbee ran against first-year student Joslyn Forcione who had 120 votes. Both candidates received 59 votes of no confidence. Wetherbee will be taking over the role from senior Quinn Tufino.

Junior Kathi Hodel was elected vice president of business and finance with 179 votes. Hodel ran against sophomore Paris Agiomavritis who received 123 votes and 26 votes of no confidence. Hodel will be taking over the role from senior Noah Strathmann.

Sophomore Caleb Cackowski was re-elected vice president of communications with 286 votes and 42 votes of no confidence. Sophomore Ty Anderson was re-elected vice president of residential affairs with 287 votes and 41 votes of no confidence. 

All senators ran unopposed. Sophomore Eleanor Paterson was elected Class of 2026 senator with 101 votes and 14 votes of no confidence. Sophomore Nikki Sutera, current senate chair, and sophomore Aoife Hartigan, current senator-at-large, both ran unopposed for a senator-at-large position — which there are five of. Sutera was elected with 238 votes, Hartigan was elected with 194 votes and both had 37 votes of no confidence.

Sophomore Baneet Pukhrambam was elected international senator with 19 votes and one vote of no confidence. First-year student Evan Wasserman was re-elected senator of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance with 50 votes and nine votes of no confidence. Sophomore Lori Armstrong was elected senator of the School of Humanities and Sciences with 95 votes and 12 votes of no confidence. Sophomore Lili Chalfant was re-elected senator of the Roy H. Park School of Communications with 77 votes and 14 votes of no confidence. Sophomore Alexis Arias was elected senator of the School of Business with 28 votes and four votes of no confidence. Arias will be taking over the role from senior Utkarsh Maini. 

Unfilled positions

There are 16 unfilled senate positions that will be open for candidates to run for during Fall 2024 elections. McConnell said via email that there are two Class of 2025 seats, one Class of 2026 seat, two Class of 2027 seats, two Class of 2028 seats, the Students of Color Coalition seat, the transfer seat, the first-generation seat, the varsity athlete seat, the club athlete seat, the off-campus seat, the graduate seat and three senator-at-large seats. 

​​The SGC is the sole representative body for the Ithaca College student community. The SGC can be contacted at [email protected].