After 1,237 votes were cast for Creighton Student Union’s president, vice president and board of representatives, Tommy Backe, CSU’s vice president, took the stage Tuesday night at the State of the Creighton Union’s Address to announce the students who will hold positions in the 2013-2014 school year.
John McCoy was elected president for the second time, the first student since 2001 to serve as president both his junior and senior year. Jack Anderson, his running mate, was elected vice president. A majority of the positions on the board of representatives were filled.
However, this came as no surprise to the student body, as both John McCoy and Jack Anderson ran unopposed. This is a rare occasion; normally the president is engaged in competition with at least one other candidate.
“This is an unique year in that there isn’t any opposition for vice president and president,” McCoy said.
“Running unopposed, we were kind of disappointed because there are many things students could run on,” Anderson said.
McCoy, although in the same position, will be working with a new vice president. Jack Anderson, an Arts & Sciences sophomore, will replace Backe as CSU’s vice president.
Jack Anderson was a member of the board of representatives in the 2012-2013 term, working on the campus planning committee and learning the ins and outs of Creighton.
Anderson decided to “use [his] leadership skills [he] gained this past year to run as vice president.”
“Jack has blossomed on the board of representatives this year,” McCoy said. “He’s been involved with most of the legislation that’s gotten passed so he’s been a real advocate for students.”
Hence, Anderson was named “The Advocate” during McCoy and Anderson’s campaign period.
Both McCoy and Anderson have agreed to reshape the position of vice president in their upcoming term.
Currently, the vice president of CSU works with the internal part of CSU and the inner workings of the board of representatives.
Looking towards the future, Anderson hopes to “serve as an intermediate between the student body and administration.”
“I’m more of an extrovert you could say,” Anderson said. “I really would like to be out in the student body and making sure our students’ voices are heard and making sure that we’re a recognizable figure on campus. CSU serves as the voice and the vehicle to voice our students’ concerns.”
Although McCoy enjoyed working with Backe, he is excited for Anderson’s different style of leadership.
“Tommy did a great job behind the scenes, but Jack will be more in front of everybody,” he said.
Because Anderson is more of an extrovert, he believes he will work well with McCoy.
“I think it’s good because John can be focused on the inner workings of the administrations and things that aren’t necessarily seen by students,” Anderson said.
McCoy and Anderson introduced students to their three-pronged platform during their campaign period. They hope to engage, collaborate and become sustainable.
They hope to engage the student body not only in current events and active citizenship, but also with the Omaha community. They are looking into partnering with Jesuit Academy or Creighton Prep to give students mentoring opportunities. Futhermore, CSU hopes to engage with other Jesuit institutions throughout the country through the National Jesuit Student Government Association.
To accomplish collaboration, they hope to connect both undergraduate and graduate student bodies as well as reconnect alumni with the student body.
Finally, they will focus on financial sustainability, or raising awareness of student debt and also environmental sustainability by looking into ways Creighton can become green.
Anderson’s focus is on the engagement part of the platform, or on the voice of the students in student government.
“We all have a voice as students, and I think that’s sometimes not realized by all of our students,” he said. “This is our community and we have a say in everything that goes on. I think what sometimes is misunderstood is that when we band together as students we really do have a strong voice and we really can make a difference in our community here at Creighton.”
McCoy hopes to bring the voices of the underrepresented to CSU during the next year.
“There’s not a whole lot of people [on the board of representatives] who are speaking directly for student athletes, for those really involved in the CCSJ or campus ministry, or for those in Greek life,” he said. “So one thing I hope to accomplish is getting direct feedback on what those underrepresented students think about the things happening on campus.”
McCoy did involve on section of the underrepresented population in his last term: the freshmen.
“One thing that we wanted to work on right from the beginning is engaging freshmen in what CSU is doing, so the fellowship program has been a way to kind of get students excited and involved in CSU right away,” McCoy said. “We had two tonight that were elected to the board of representatives.”
McCoy also worked hard on strengthening Creighton’s relationship with other Jesuit universities across the country as president of the stearing committee on the National Jesuit Student Government Association.
He reported on this and the state of the Creighton union before election results were announced on Tuesday night.
“Overall, the state of the Creighton union is strong,” McCoy said. “We look forward to the challenge of the Big East Conference. For the first time we are in a conference of universities like us and students like us.”
Tommy Backe, former CSU vice president, announces who will hold a position on CSU in the 2013-2014 term.
Jack Anderson, Arts & Sciences sophomore, was elected CSU vice president Tuesday night.