Zero Students Running In Freshmen Elections So Far

By Mira Gillan, Staff Contributor

Every October, Hudson Valley Community College holds a freshman election for the student senate. Under normal circumstances, each candidate brings something different to the table such as organizing new events, addressing concern for community needs and formulating budget goals. Unfortunately, it’s 2021 and what’s normal doesn’t exist for the time being. Notice of new candidates for the freshman elections was not released. Spots open through freshman elections include Freshman Student Senator and Freshman class President. 

Despite opening up for in-person classes again, Hudson Valley Community College is seeing a considerable dip in enrollment numbers. This may be partially to blame for the lack of runners in the freshman elections, but other factors could include a lack of encouragement or invitation.

 As repetitive as this may be, adjusting to an online college setting hasn’t been completely smooth for eighteen months. As students start taking in-person classes again, things such as transportation and accessibility need to be taken into account. Some students still prefer to be remote while others want to be present for hands-on learning. It’s one thing to hang up flyers to contact whichever office about student activities, but it may be a good idea to advertise via email. Perhaps someone will see this as an opportunity to land an easy spot on the student body.

Despite the lack of students joining so far, Director of EOP and Student Life Alfredo Balarin said that the lack of participation thus far is normal, and nothing out of the ordinary. Balarin said that because registration just opened up on Thursday, September 9, many students haven’t gotten a chance yet to apply to run for either of the open positions. 

“The petitions just opened at 1:00 on Tuesday. At this point, we don’t have any students that have taken out any petitions but any freshmen students who’ve completed less than 27 HVCC credits can stop by the student activities office and pick up a petition for either freshman class President or freshman student Senator,” Balarin said. 

Balarin also stressed the number of benefits to both positions. “The benefits are you get to be a part of many of the student events and activities. You get leadership development as well as conflict resolution and development,” Balarin said. 

Balarin said he’s hoping to see a variety of students run in each election. “Our goal is to get any student that’s interested, to pick up petitions and move forward,” Balarin said. 

The elections will be held online exclusively this year. Students who wish to vote will need their Hudson Valley Community College email and password to get on. 

Balarin said he has no expectations as to what voter turnout will look like, but said that the number of candidates will likely decide what turnout looks like in the coming election. 

“If you have a lot of students running, you’re going to get a higher turnout, if you have fewer students running, you get a lower turnout, so we’ll have to see,” Balarin said. 

Student freshman elections will be held on October 20 and 21.