In a vote of 22-3, Ryan Tisdale, the vice president of communications & internal affairs and acting interim president, was sworn in as Student Government Association president on Wednesday.
The Student Government Association accepted nominations and held a vote for the new president of the 2023-2024 academic during their weekly Senate meeting.
After the impeachment of former President Marquis Govan, Tisdale was sworn in as interim president for two weeks, which gave enough time for SGA to compile a list of nominees for the presidency.
The nominees were vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, Samiha Khan and senator for the College of Arts and Sciences, Brett Sharp and Tisdale.
Each nominee was allowed to make a short three minute speech about why they should be elected president.
During his nomination speech, Tisdale emphasized transformative leadership, trusted visions and informative change at SLU for the remainder of his presidency.
“Whoever has to come into this position has to pick up SGA where it is right now, anything that we do in this body affects us and everyone on campus,” Tisdale said. “Looking forward, I’m running on a platform of trust, transparency and transformation and I think those three things are foundational to leadership in general and I think we can tailor them to be more specific to the people.”
In her speech, Khan expressed satisfaction in her current role as vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. She endorsed Tisdale for president while hinting toward plans to campaign for the 2024-2025 elections.
“I will say that I encourage you all to vote for Vice President, Ryan Tisdale. I say that because I love my role as vice president, the work I do with my committee, the work I share with you all and I want to make sure I’m in the capacity to continue to do that work. Maybe at another time, I would accept,” Khan said.
After the nomination speech, Khan asked to be removed as a nominee, leaving only Tisdale and Sharp.
An anonymous vote by ballot was taken for the presidency, with only the Senate allowed to vote in this election. The result of the vote was 22-3 in favor of President Tisdale.
Tisdale was sworn in on his promise to support the student body of SLU by making SGA a more collaborative institution with other student clubs and organizations.
President Tisdale underlined a specific desire to get more involved with the student body themselves.
“We’re definitely going to do something along the lines of getting the students’ feedback more directly, and being more intentional about engaging the student body and what they want us to work on,” Tisdale said.
He also spoke of creating a task force to look into any oversights in the bylaws and constitution.
“Something else I mentioned during my remarks was about having our constitution and bylaws reviewed,” Tisdale said. “Not just by the members of SGA, tapping in and establishing a taskforce that has members of the community, members of SGA, and faculty and staff also in on the conversation.”
Tisdale said that he would do this by assessing current documents to see how they can best serve the student body to reflect SGA’s and the university’s mission.
In his final remarks, Tisdale acknowledged the circumstances of becoming SGA president after the recent impeachment.
“I wish it was more under more ideal circumstances and not following an impeachment,” Tisdale said. “I think when there’s a call to lead or a call to kind of help repair and fix our student body, or at least our student senate, or SGA, I think you have to answer that call whether the timing may be right or not.”
