Student Body President-Elect Ben Meyers gave his goodbye speech as senate president Tuesday night but noted that he wasn’t going too far away.
He encouraged the new senators to speak up and stand for what they believe in.
“Don’t just be a vote; don’t be just a number,” he said.
He said Student Senate is a very intimidating place to be but don’t be afraid and don’t let the position define them. Instead, he encouraged them to represent their constituency.
As he choked up when speaking about his experience in Senate he said, “[I] don’t want to be John Boehner and lose it.”
Sen. Micah Lewis, a member of the Unite Party, ran unopposed to fill the position of Student Senate president.
Last week’s Student Government election results were also validated during the senate meeting.
Gillian Leytham, the new Progress Party senator for the law seat, asked the senators not to validate the results because of the potential voter fraud.
As first reported in the Alligator, three students came forward stating they had voted multiple times in various locations during the spring elections.
“Even though I am one of those who would most benefit from the results,” she said, “respectfully I ask that we wait.”
Joe Pardo, the Unite Party sophomore senator, encouraged the senate to validate the results because he said there were no close races.
“We need to have a functioning senate,” he said. “Let’s validate the election and start.”
Election Commission Chairwoman Georgia Buckhalter said no complaints were filed in Sunday’s commission meeting about election results.
The senate also unanimously passed a resolution opposing the 30 percent tuition increase proposed by UF President Bernie Machen to counter Gov. Rick Scott’s budget cuts to state education.
