Belmont’s Student Government Association confirmed its new leadership on Friday morning.
SGA opened its first meeting of the semester with an acknowledgment of the transition that would be occurring with a new administration.
Carter Barnett, the previous SGA president, resigned last semester and left Zeen Ari as the new president of SGA.
The first meeting served as a reminder for senators and the incoming cabinet about the role of SGA as well as a starting point for the new semester.
“I want to first start out with just an acknowledgement that it is strange that Carter isn't here with us today,” said Derian Hamblin, assistant director of student engagement and adviser for SGA. “We know that transition can be hard because Carter was such a big part of our organization, but SGA existed before Carter, and it will continue to exist after Carter.”
Olivia Patterson was nominated as vice president of SGA during the meeting and was confirmed by a two-thirds majority vote.
“I am really, really excited for this really thankful for Zeen and for Derian for giving me this opportunity,” she said. “I’m super excited, y'all are awesome.”
Several senators on both the staff and in the larger senate body spoke on their support of her confirmation as vice president.
“I have never met anybody who is as dedicated to this group of people as she is, and I can tell both inside and out, she's constantly thinking about it,” said senator Claire Portele.
Patterson was sworn in and will now serve the rest of the semester as vice president.
The meeting also held nominations for homecoming court and discussed special elections that will be held for a number of vacancies in the Senate.
“The basic idea here is that we have 10 vacancies within the student senate… the Senate does have the authority to create special elections, and I'm seeking the approval of the Senate in order to do so,” said Parliamentarian Nathan Arnold.
The bill was confirmed by the senate, which will now hold special elections from Jan. 27-29 to fill the vacancies for the rest of the semester.
Applications are open on SGA’s BruinLink.
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This article was written by Braden Simmons