On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) announced its fall election results for some of this year’s MCSG positions including Student Organizations Committee Chair, Class of 2027 Representative, Class of 2025 Representative and Class of 2024 Representative, allowing for a important organization at Macalester to continue its work for the coming year.
With the results finally in, Mikayla Giehler ’24 won the Student Organizations Committee Chair; Diarra Chatham ’27, Mahkai Hunt ’27, Aditya Choubal ’27 and AnLian Krishnamurthy ’27, running on a split ticket, and Owen King ’27 won Class of 2027 Representative; Sabine Sullivan ’25 won Class of 2025 Representative; and Ellen Patrickson ’24 won Class of 2024 Representative.
The role of class representative, which made up the majority of the fall election, is to ensure that all students at Macalester have their voices represented inside MCSG.
“The role of class representative is to be as transparent as possible about MCSG,” first-year representative Choubal explained. “To really listen to our classmates, their concerns, and to bring that up in MCSG.”
New representatives have all joined specific committees to help with different aspects of MCSG’s responsibilities.
“I’m in the Communications [& Engagement] Committee (CEC),” first-year representative Krishnamurthy said. “Which is basically outreach to make sure that people are aware of upcoming MCSG events.”
The committees serve as a way for individuals to devote more of their time to specific goals or projects in MCSG while still keeping the underlying philosophy of their position: to represent their specific class. There are six committees that help divide up the tasks of MCSG: The Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), the Financial Affairs Committee (FAC), the President’s Cabinet, the Program Board (PB), the Student Organizations Committee (SOC), and the CEC.
“By being on the Student Organizations Committee, I help with new clubs that want to get started up,” first-year representative Chatham explained. “They go through us and we approve their charters and help them get started with whatever they need, resource-wise.”
The other position on the ballot this fall, the SOC chair, oversees the SOC in its specific tasks within MCSG.
“For the role of SOC chair, there are two parts,” SOC Chair Giehler said. “First, they serve on the [Executive] Board, which is a group of leaders in MCSG who mentor other Legislative Body members and provide feedback to staff members within the school on behalf of the student body. I also chair the meetings within SOC and handle a lot of the responsibility with chartering new orgs.”
Due to the student-centered nature of this role, Giehler is holding office hours for anyone interested in starting a new org or wants to discuss an already existing org. They will take place every Wednesday from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. in the MCSG office on the second floor of the Campus Center.
Many students who ran for leadership positions found it an interesting way to get involved in the school while working to make change.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to be a part of my student government during high school, so that really motivated me to take part in MCSG — I was like, ‘why not?’” Chatham said. “ I didn’t see a lot of students of color in leadership positions at my high school, so I was motivated because I wanted to be a voice for others and encourage those around me to take leadership roles.”
Finally, some have played an important role in MCSG in the past and wanted to continue to take action and build relationships while working inside the program.
“I was also a class of 2024 student representative last year as junior rep, and I had a lot of fun,” senior class representative Patrickson said. “It was a cool project, I got to know a bunch of people, and I found that it was an effective way to get change to happen at this school.”
The MCSG elections are an important part of what makes Macalester’s student government what it is today. The elections give students a way to participate in MCSG by making their voices heard, and give students the capacity to make change at Macalester.
“I have a lot of opinions on this school,” Patrickson said. “I like being in a space where I can feel empowered to make the important changes I believe in.”
