The Optimist
  • Home
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Staff Contacts
    • Jobs
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
  • Features
  • Print Edition
    • The Pessimist
    • Special Projects
  • Police Log
  • Classifieds
You are here: Home / News / SA looks to increase participation

SA looks to increase participation

September 17, 2013 by Marissa Jones

Although 618 students voted in the recent Students’ Association Congress election, about 200 more voters than last fall, executive officers are looking for ways to improve future student participation.

Fourteen Congress positions were uncontested, and three positions will have students appointed to them.

Rodney Johnson, SA vice president, said the executive officers are working to increase the student body’s exposure to SA. They are focusing on surveying the student body, hosting town hall meetings and getting in front of the student body more often.

“We’re working constantly on increasing students’ exposure. That’s to blame for some of the uncontested roles,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t concern me though because we have more than qualified candidates. But would I like for there to be more competition? Definitely.”

An encouraging indication of student participation was the senior class presidents’ race, SA President Dylan Benac said. Sean Branshaw won the race by two votes. It is unusual for the senior class president race to be the closest, Benac said.

“One of them could have easily said, ‘I’m going to run for vice president because he’s running for president,'” Benac said. “I like that they ran against each other when they didn’t even have to.”

Benac said elections are interesting within a smaller university because every vote really does matter.

Executive cabinet members have more plans to increase student involvement in future elections. They are working on an electronic voting system to replace the current paper ballot system used in the Campus Center.

“We don’t see many seniors come through the Campus Center. This would be a better way to reflect the picture of people at ACU,” Benac said.

Benac wants to partner with students in the Association for Computing Machinery, a group in the School of Information Technology and Computing, to design an electronic voting system. Benac hopes a new system will be designed by the spring.

Another change to benefit Congress that will potentially be made is moving all SA elections besides freshman positions to the spring, Benac said.

“That gives people the opportunity to plan all summer,” Benac said, “And it means on day one, we’ll be ready, and we won’t have to wait four weeks to have our first meeting.”

SA’s first Congress meeting will take place next Wednesday.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Archive, SA

Other News:

  • Provost adopts new policy for emeriti faculty

  • Demolition begins on Sherrod residential apartments

  • ACU Gives exceeds goal, raises over $919,000

About Marissa Jones

You are here: Home / News / SA looks to increase participation

Other News:

  • Provost adopts new policy for emeriti faculty

  • Demolition begins on Sherrod residential apartments

  • ACU Gives exceeds goal, raises over $919,000

Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Optimist on Twitter

Retweet on Twitter The Optimist Retweeted
optimistsports Optimist Sports @optimistsports ·
26 Jun

The United Athletic Conference is officially taking the place of the Western Athletic Conference in the 2026-2027 athletic year. The UAC is a joint football effort between the WAC and the ASUN but will now extend to all sports. #acuoptimist #acuathletics #wac #uac

Reply on Twitter 1938240320854008109 Retweet on Twitter 1938240320854008109 2 Like on Twitter 1938240320854008109 7 Twitter 1938240320854008109
Retweet on Twitter The Optimist Retweeted
ashleyh1607 Ashley Henderson @ashleyh1607 ·
3 Jun

My second year at ACU was full of opportunities that grew me as an individual and a journalist.

In my first year as editor in chief of @acuoptimist, we published six print issues, filmed a 3-hour live election show, and revamped our newscast, all while producing news weekly.

Reply on Twitter 1929734328445178254 Retweet on Twitter 1929734328445178254 1 Like on Twitter 1929734328445178254 1 Twitter 1929734328445178254

Optimist on Facebook

The Optimist

1 years ago

The Optimist

Video

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Optimist

2 years ago

The Optimist
"Ending my college education early was always the plan for me, but the things that I have been able to see, experience and examine about ACU’s community were not. I have found immense growth in ACU over the past three and a half years, but ACU still has a long road to climb if it wants to keep catering to students as the world changes around them." To read more of this article visit acuoptimist.com or click the link in our bio. #acu #abilenechristianuniversity #privatechristianuniversity #collegestudentopinion #acuopinion ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Videos

Optimist Newscast Feb. 28, 2024

Our top stories today include a recap of The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, the ... [Read More…]

  • Optimist Newscast Feb. 21, 2024
  • Optimist Newscast Feb. 14, 2024
  • Optimist Newscast Jan. 24, 2024

Latest Photos

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Subscribe
    • Policies
    • Advertising Policy
    • Letters to the Editor and Reader Comments
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Features
  • Advertise
    • Paid Advertisement
  • Police Log

© 2025 ACU Optimist · All Rights Reserved