Grace Kelly and Gabrielle “Elle” Grinnell were elected 2024-25 Student Government president and vice president on Monday. The Executive Alliance will be sworn in at noon on April 2.
Kelly and Grinnell, who won against three other Alliances, ran on a platform focused on improving campus mental health resources, making campus more inclusive and combating food insecurity. They received 10 endorsements from student organizations and groups including Texas Panhellenic, The Onyx Honor Society, West Campus Collective and the UT Austin Affirmations Instagram account.
Kelly and Grinnell accumulated 2,048 votes, surpassing the quota of 1,904 votes needed to win the seats. The runner-up Executive Alliance of Ramya Nambala and Jonathan Wilson received 1,249 votes. The Executive Alliance of Jonathan Griffith and Kore Sarfo along with the alliance of Austin Barthel and Andrew McKiernan did not reach 300 votes.
“I feel like all of our platforms can go for almost every single person in the whole student body,” Grinnell said. “We came from different communities, but we know some of the same people and I think because of that we can also reach different areas of campus and different people.”
Once sworn in, the Alliance will prioritize responding to Senate Bill 17 through their cultivating equality policy, which includes allocating supportive funding for “diverse student organizations,” streamlining room reservation processes for student-led organizations and hosting monthly town halls.
“We want to hold town halls so that we’re able to personally hear everyone’s concerns, any issues that arise, (so) that we can hear them face-to-face and if need be, hold a conversation to understand them more,” Grinnell said.
They both said the alliance will also focus on enacting mental health policy, which includes long-term counseling services and mental health education. The alliance also intends to bring back a food distribution policy to combat food insecurity.
Kelly and Grinnell, who hugged each other immediately after they won, said they were glad they found out alongside others who shared their excitement. Their families — Kelly and Grinnell’s moms and Grinnell’s sister — came from Dallas and McAllen to support the duo.
“It definitely made the nerves go away knowing it kind of felt like we had a little army behind us, backing us up no matter the outcome,” Kelly said.
