By Hanifah Jones, Staff writer
Susquehanna will be swearing in their first Black-Muslim student body president in university history along with a notably diverse executive board on Monday, April 30.
Susquehanna Student Government Association, SGA, announced their student elected executive board for the 2018-2019 academic year. The board will consist of Aminata “Mimi” Diallo as president, Cage Crissman and Christopher Carvell as vicepresident, Morgan Dubbs as communication chair, Haley Butina as Secretary and Ashley Ward and Donovan Gayles as treasurer.
This election has been historic for Susquehanna in regard to the diversity of the new executive board, notably with the installation of Diallo. The board is also being praised for its diversity regarding sexuality, gender and race.
“Way before coming to Susquehanna I knew I wanted to be a part of SGA,” said Diallo, a junior majoring in French, political science and international studies with a focus on diplomacy.
Diallo has been an active member of SGA since her first year at Susquehanna, when she served as the president for the class of 2019: “I quickly noticed that I was one of a handful of students of color in the room. At the time we had about 30-35 active SGA members and out of that 30-35 there were only about four students of color.
“I was a little fascinated because in one way it was a representation of the school and a representation of what I’ve seen around campus,” continued Diallo. “We are a predominately white institution, so I wasn’t too surprised, but I was very shocked by the disengagement of students of color in SGA.”
During the past few years, SGA and Susquehanna as a whole have grown and increased their diversity. SGA has gone from having a small representation of minority students, to having one of the most diverse executive boards in SGA history.
“I’m happy that more diverse people are running for positions and actually being elected,” said Ashley Ward, a sophomore finance major who will be next Treasurer along with Donovan Gayles. “With SU being a PWI [Predominantly White Institution], we need our voices to be heard.”
“When I started here, it was the year where there was a lot of Nazi symbols and hate speech being spread around campus. So we have had many leaps and bounds,” Cage Crissman said, a sophomore political science major who currently serves as the SGA Secretary. “I think it’s amazing that we are taking the steps towards being a more accepting and inclusive campus, I know we can be better and we should keep trying to be better.” Crissman is sharing the Vice-President ticket with Chris Carvell and will be in office during the spring of 2019 after he returns from studying abroad in Paris, France.
“Seeing how our new exec board consists of a black woman as president, two gay vice presidents, an Asian woman as the secretary, a woman as the communications chair and a black male and female as the co-treasurers, I think that is the most diverse student exec board that we have ever seen,” Crissman continued. “I think it’s amazing and I am proud to be a part of this exec board.”
Diallo and Crissman both expressed the importance of students being involved in SGA. “Our meetings are open to everyone on campus and I always tell students: ‘Hey, your money makes up our yearly budget so it should be your interest to be interested in student government and want to know what we are spending your money on,’” Diallo said. “Every semester students pay student activity fees and all of that comes to us, that makes up our yearly budget of almost $600,000. That’s what gets a lot of people there once they realize that.”
“I have been on the exec board now for a year and seen all of the work that we have done to give students a better experience,” said Crissman. “For example, we are in charge of a lot of money in SGA, we take it from the student activities fee and we place that money with different clubs and various activities around campus allocating to either [Student Activities Committee] or other organizations that plan huge events for students. It’s great to see students getting involved in the school and I think it’s really awesome to be a part of it.”
“I am very happy to have a diverse board in terms of race, sexuality and gender,” Diallo said. “It is not limited to the board, it is also more diverse in the SGA body and I hope to see that grow. The more opinions we have in a room the better discussions we have and the better decisions we can make.”
Susquehanna President John Green will swear the new executives into office Monday, April 30.