The Wildcat Gazette

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The Election Committee announced yesterday morning that the position of Vice President has been removed from the fall election.

UTICA – SUNY POLY. The Student Government at Utica Election Committee sent out a campus announcement email yesterday morning, sharing that the Committee had removed the position of Vice President from the fall election. Jasmatie Lutawan, who was sworn in as Vice President on September 10th, will instead serve for the remainder of the academic year.

When the election was announced on September 3rd, it included on the ballot the position of Vice President, as no eligible student was serving or had been elected to that role during the most recent executive election in April. Consequently, interest had been expressed in running for this position – Jackson Beckmann, a sophomore and incumbent Senator, had announced his candidacy the day the election opened.

When asked for comment, Beckmann stated that he “..heavily disapprove[s] of the removal of the VP position from the fall election – but not for any disapproval of the VP herself. I'm sure she will do an excellent job. The process that allowed us to get here is what gripes me.” Beckmann noted that the last time Vice President Lutawan was legitimately voted into office by the public student body was in the fall semester of 2025, when she ran for Senator. He said he “..wish[ed] we had an election where we could have run against each other and anyone else who might have wanted to run for the Vice President spot,” but added, “again she will do a great job of course.”

Lutawan, a senior studying computer science and cybersecurity, was elected as a Junior Senator last fall. She was later elected within the Senate to the position of Senate Pro-Tempore, a designation that put her in charge of the Senate alongside the Vice President. Per Student Government’s Constitution, if the office of the Vice President is vacant, the Senate Pro-Tempore becomes the Vice President.

Senator Lutawan had ran unopposed for the position of Vice President during the executive election last spring, and was elected. However, at the time, Student Government policies forbade residential advisors from holding any executive positions. (Vice President Lutawan was an RA for Adirondack Hall last year and is an RA again this year.) These policies were changed to allow residential advisors to hold executive level positions two weeks ago during the first Senate meeting of the semester, a change that had been in public Senate discussions since March.

Typically, Senators are elected in the fall semester, and serve until the conclusion of the next year’s Senate election (e.g., a Senator elected in the fall of 2025 would serve as a Senator until the conclusion of the fall of 2026 election). Since Vice President Lutawan was just sworn in, and per the Election Committee’s announcement, she will instead serve until the next executive election at the end of the spring semester.

Students interested in running for Student Government positions should stop by the Center for Student Involvement Office or email sgu@sunypoly.edu for more information.

Written for the Wildcat Gazette Contact @ Proton Mail