The After Party dominated the polls this past week in Stony Brook University’s Undergraduate Student Government Elections, claiming every position from president to senators.
Adil Hussain, a junior political science major and business minor on the pre-nursing track, beat out current USG president Anna Lubitz in a landslide victory of 1,260 to 569. Yiufat Lam pulled in only 333 votes.
Current USG Senator Mallory Rothstein beat out Ryan Heslin for the Executive Vice Presidency 1430 to 603. Brian McIIvain took Treasurer with 1355 votes, beating out Wesley Hawkins. Steven Adelson won Vice President of Academic Affairs.
According to Hussain, who was Vice President of Academic Affairs last year, The After Party’s mission is “to start conversations. Many people talk about all the problems on campus or about what they would like to see happen and it is time we start working on those things.”
From holding more events on campus to preventing unnecessary tuition costs and fee increases, Hussain is dedicated to spending less time focusing on any trivial dramas that surround USG and spending more time getting things done.
“How I see it is, we can spend our time complaining about what we want to see or we can start looking at how we can solve some of these issues,” said Hussain. “We don’t accept ‘no’ as an answer, instead we ask, ‘how? How can we get it done?’”
The polls were open from Monday, April 8 and noon and closed Friday, April 12 at noon. For the first time, students were able to vote on SOLAR as they picked their candidates for student government. The option for a fee increase of $5.25 was at the top of the ballot.
Students voted, and in a result of 982 to 892, the student activity fee will be $99.50 starting next year as opposed to the current $94.25. This increase was a result of the bad economy, in which USG must pay more for insurance and fees because of the upcoming increase in minimum wage.
But out of 16,000 students, only about an eighth or less actually voted in the elections. Itamar Cohen, a junior multidisciplinary studies major with athletic training and biology concentrations cast his vote, and only for the positions his friends ran in.
“I didn’t really hear anything from anyone who actually wanted to do anything,” said Cohen. “It was all just a bunch of ‘Vote for me’s.”
But the students have spoken, and Hussain is focusing on moving forward, promising that “the real After Party is coming next year.”