ayer, Fox win SA presidential election

Annual SA elections held for class presidents and senators

LISA COLEMAN AND PEERAWUT RUANSAWASDI FLAT HAT DATA EDITOR AND NEWS ASSOC. EDITOR

and needed help with. If you’re on campus, you don’t have to worry about paying for electricity, having wi- . But when you live o campus, there are these other things you have to consider.” ursday, March 30, the College of William and Mary student body elected Sydney ayer ’24 and Taylor Fox ’24 as the next Student Assembly president and vice president. waitlisted students by Aug. 1, 2022.

Taylor Fox ’24 is in a unique position in terms of the College’s current housing crisis. As the newly elected vice president of Student Assembly, Fox serves as an advocate for the student body on this issue. However, Fox is also currently on the College’s housing waitlist for the second time, after being waitlisted for the 2022-23 school year. She is also a rst-generation, low-income student on a full scholarship to the College as a Pell Grant recipient. Fox spoke to the issues that the increased demand from the waitlist illuminates in terms of o -campus housing, especially within the FGLI community.

"We're celebrating with people who supported our campaign, and looking forward to celebrating with friends tonight and supporters," ayer told e Flat Hat soon after learning of her victory. ayer and Fox received 86.68% of the votes, while write-in challengers Max Beers ’24 and Ian Chen ’24 received 9.78%.

In the 330th SA administration, ayer serves as secretary of Sustainability and senior advisor for Internal A airs and Logistics, while Fox serves as senior advisor for Community Engagement and Outreach.

Students also voted for a class president and four senators to represent them in SA. is year, 1,186 eligible voters cast their votes in the SA presidential election, representing 17.45% of overall undergraduate student enrollment. e Independent Elections Commission (IEC) did not immediately release data on how many students were eligible to participate in the election.

“Being waitlisted does not necessarily mean you won’t be able to live on campus for the 202324 academic year,” Kandell wrote. “Students continue to withdraw from housing for a variety of reasons such as study abroad opportunities and other changes to circumstances. We will continue to work with students through this challenging time, and we are committed to doing all we can to house as many of our students next year as possible.”

Ahammad originally applied for on-campus housing for multiple reasons, including the comforting work out if I went o -campus.”

Ahammad recently secured ocampus housing for the 2023-24 school year with the help of a friend in FGLI. However, she realized several issues within the City's rental market through the process of leasing a rental property nearby campus, including the issue of complicated lease agreements.

“When it comes to having oncampus housing, there are some things you don’t have to worry about,” Ahammad said. “ is is my rst time renting, nding a place of my own. So there are all these legal details that I did not understand at’s also something that a lot of rst generation low income students don’t have is that nancial planning, that risk planning, when it comes to living o campus,” Fox said.

“I’ve had conversations with my nancial aid o cer and they have been very helpful and like, ‘Okay, this is how much you’re going to have per month and we’re going to sit with you and budget.’ And I think a lot of outreach needs to be done about that opportunity for students, especially for FGLI students,” Fox said. She noted that having a trusted, nancial advisor resource for FGLI students to use in the search for ocampus housing would be helpful.

Last year’s election saw 23.96% of eligible voters cast their ballots, which marked the rst contested election since 2019.

SA President John Cho ’23 called ayer to congratulate her and inform her of her victory shortly after the votes were tallied.

Fox noted the signi cance of a write-in option. “We were really happy to actually see a write-in option so students can actually voice who they want to o ce,” Fox said.

In the call with e Flat Hat shortly after the results were announced, Fox discussed what she learned from the campaign.

“Something that we learned is just still listening,” Fox said. “We also had a feedback form and a support form. So, you could just hear from people that supported us [with] what they want to see on campus.”

Fox thanked the student body for its support.