Student Government voted to approve this year’s executive board at the assembly meeting Tuesday.
The executive board members were appointed by student body president Anagha Kikkeri and student body vice president Winston Hung.
Government junior Kikkeri said she and Hung did a blind reading of applications before interviewing candidates and choosing the executive board.
“We are very confident that they will be able to execute the duties of the executive board and also foster a very collaborative community with the assembly to push forward a lot of change … especially amidst COVID-19,” Kikkeri said.
Kikkeri and Hung appointed administrative director Owen McGeary, advocacy director Audrey Balliette, chief of staff Vinit Shah, communications director Oriana Garcia and financial director Ethan Jones. All appointments were approved by unanimous consent.
Balliette, a Plan II, Middle Eastern studies and Arabic flagship junior, said her main priority is to advocate for affordable housing.
“If UT wants to market itself as a school that anyone from any background can attend and be an inclusive environment, then we have to tackle the affordable housing issue,” Balliette said. “I’m really excited to build a team of people from all across campus and really build an inclusive environment.”
Garcia, a radio-television-film sophomore, said some of her ideas to increase communications include creating a YouTube channel and a podcast for student leaders to share initiatives with the student body and increasing social media presence.
“Throughout my years working for SG, I’ve seen a clear lack of communication between the student body and Student Government, and I want to mend that,” Garcia said. “The biggest thing for me is ensuring that we open that communication up throughout different media sectors. I want to help the student body see the incredible initiatives that (SG) is going to be working on.”
Jones, a business honors and public relations sophomore, said it is not only important to advocate for underrepresented students, but to also give them a place to make their voices heard within SG.
Jones said he wants to effectively allocate money toward opportunities that students would like to pursue on campus.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see the amazing works that all our 21 agencies can do when they are properly funded,” Jones said. “When it comes to special projects, I’m excited to allocate funds that we have toward different underrepresented and marginalized communities on campus.”
