Ryan DuBose (CAS ‘02) and Brian Walsh (CAS ‘02) won the positions of Georgetown University Student Association president and vice president for the 2001-2002 school year by a margin of nearly three to one. The DuBose-Walsh ticket earned 1204 votes, almost 800 votes ahead of the first runners-up.
DuBose said that he was surprised that he and Walsh won by such a large margin. “Up to the night before, we had no clue of what was going on,” he said. “We were shocked and almost humbled.”
Dubose said that he believed that the strongest aspect of their campaign was meeting people in the dormitory buildings. “Going door-to-door … [we made] people excited about student government,” he said.
Walsh said he was excited and grateful. “I think we had a lot of widespread support of organizations across the campus,” he said.
DuBose said that their first action as president-elect and vice-president-elect would be to appoint members of their GUSA cabinet. He said that he and Walsh were also planning meetings with administrators and club leaders.
“Tawan and Jacques did a good job with establishing a relationship between the administration and the student government. We want to establish a relationship between the student government and the students,” DuBose said. “Brian and I are down-to-earth, inclusive people. We want to get people involved, we want students to know what we’re working on … we want to solve the apathy problem among students.”
Walsh said that he and DuBose would build upon this year’s administration’s foundation.
“I think we’re going to build on Tawan and Jacques’s positive outlook on student government … They came in with a new attitude and emphasized a new accountability for the student government,” said Walsh. He added that one of the things he would have changed about this year’s administration would have been its handling of Block Party.
“GUSA as a whole dropped the ball on the Block Party. I think we could have put something together,” he said.
The recent debate over GUSA, the Yard and constitutional reform will not present too many problems for the turnover, said Walsh.
“It will present new challenges, but it will also bring new opportunities,” he said. “Over the next three weeks of so, they’ll put together a comprehensive constitution. I’ve heard that they’re making a lot of progress.”
“We’re comfortable working with any student government that the students want. We’re willing to lead, whether it be the Yard or GUSA,” said DuBose.
Walsh said that he and DuBose would work closely with this year’s GUSA President Tawan Davis (CAS ‘01) to put together a new team for the new administration.
Davis said that he thought the DuBose/Walsh team won the election by such a great margin because they most represented fresh and interesting ideas making them the best candidates for the job.
Davis said he believed that the greatest difference between the DuBose-Walsh administration and his own would be a difference in personality.
“I think Brian brings a different type of leadership, and Ryan brings a very open and personable approach to student leadership,” he said.
Election commissioner Will Cosmas (CAS ‘01) said that he was very happy with the voter participation this year. A total of 2280 students in total voted in Monday’s election, with 4036 students not voting at all, according to Saxa server. The 36 percent voter participation is a slight increase from last year’s election’s 29 percent voter turnout. Out of the 2280 votes, 1204 votes went to the DuBose-Walsh ticket.
First runners-up were Bill Jarvis (MSB ‘02) and Doug Herrema (CAS ‘02) with 409 votes. Brian Dunleavey (MSB ‘02) and Rena Borucki (CAS ‘02) received 337 votes. Joe Kildea (MSB ‘02) and Byron LaMotte (CAS ‘03) received 100 votes, Michael Green (CAS ‘02) and Jeff Watkinson (CAS ‘02) registered 81 votes and Johnson Elugbadebo (SFS ‘02) and Amar Weisman (CAS ‘03) finished with 72 votes.
Jarvis, the first runner-up said he did not plan to run for GUSA representative.
“The new administration and I have fundamentally different ideas of student government structure, purpose and leadership … However, if the Yardreferendum passed, I will definitely stay involved with student government,” Jarvis said.
Cosmas said that this year was the first year that Georgetown students studying abroad were allowed to participate in the election because it was conducted through the internet.
