I want to give a sincere thank you to all the students who voted in elections Tuesday and Wednesday. Especially those who helped the Student Alliance party gain a historic 20 seats in the Student Senate. Over the course of the campaign, the Student Alliance candidates and supporters demonstrated incredible character, integrity and devotion.
To everyone who helped out — whether they campaigned for days or just took a few minutes to vote — I want to sincerely thank you. That outpouring of support allows 20 new voices from UF’s colleges of liberal arts and sciences, engineering, architecture, fine arts and nursing, as well UF’s graduate community, to represent tens of thousands of Gators and their needs and concerns.
Equally important, the defeat of the proposed Reitz Union fee sends a powerful message. Despite a massive, publicly funded campaign to push a new fee on the Student Body over the next 30 years, a decisive majority came out and said it wanted fiscal responsibility from its Student Government.
When I first got elected 3.5 years ago, I was the only Senate opposition member. Now, we are 23 elected representatives strong and a strong voice for accountability. That’s something all UF students can be proud of.
