‘Jack and Luke with you’
Students elect the 2016-2017 student body president and vice president
Current Vice President of Liberty University’s Student Government Association (SGA) Jack Heaphy and his running mate, Luke Welgoss, won by more than 1,400 votes in the 2016-2017 SGA election Friday, April 1.
DISCUSS — The SGA duo ran under the slogan “Jack and Luke with you.” Photo credit: RJ Goodwin
Overall, more than 3,500 students voted. Last year, only 2,900 voted, according to Jacob Broadway, chief justice of SGA.
“Our goal was to increase voter turnout,” Broadway said. “This year, we set a lofty goal of 6,000.”
While the number fell short of SGA’s target, SGA increased their exposure among students at the presidential debate Thursday, March 31.
More than 150 people filled DeMoss 4040 to watch Heaphy, Welgoss and the other candidates, Jacob Munden and Caleb Long, debate campus safety, gun control on campus, off-campus living, and other topics during the event. Broadway said approximately 100 people also viewed the debate on Periscope, a live video feed from The Liberty Champion’s Twitter page.
The attendance at the event was five times greater than last year’s 35 attendees.
Broadway thought SGA’s changes to this event contributed to the large turnout. Last year, the informal nature of the debate allowed students to question randomly without a real itinerary or commentator and no one to control or guide the debate.
The SGA wanted a more organized event, so they included three moderators, Broadway, the Champion’s Editor-In-Chief Nate Haywood, and Kelsey Gold, a representative of the Student Commuter Association.
Gold also brought insight about clubs on campus because of her active participation in multiple Liberty clubs.
The moderators controlled the debate, asking questions generated from polling by the Champion and the SGA, and no outside questions were allowed.
While the debate brought more attention to the election, Broadway said the volunteers for the “Jack & Luke” campaign helped the team substantially and might have been a major player in the win.
Broadway said the friendliness of the volunteers and the number — nearly 100 — scattered across campus for “Jack & Luke” helped the duo with exposure. The duo was penalized though — docked more than 200 votes.
According to Broadway, SGA upholds a rule about campaigning before and after Convocation.
Candidates may not advertise for the election within 100-feet of the Vines Center 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after Convocation, Broadway said.
“It’s to respect the nature of Convocation and just the type of setting it is,” Broadway said. “We don’t want students to leave Convocation and be bombarded by SGA volunteers saying, ‘Have you voted yet?’”
The “Jack & Luke” tent sat less than 50 feet outside of the Vines Center as students filtered out immediately after Convocation Friday, so SGA reviewed the situation and took away any votes placed within 30 minutes after Convocation for “Jack & Luke.”
Broadway also said the rule was implemented so SGA would not be responsible for making students tardy to Convocation or their classes afterward.
Welgoss commented on the penalty, saying the team knew about the rule, but they started the campaigning outside of the Vines Center too early.
Broadway said overall, the penalty did not affect the outcome. The team still took more than 2,400 votes while the competition, “Munden and Long,” had just more than 1,000 votes.
As Heaphy and Welgoss step into office next semester, they believe their prior experience, Heaphy’s role as vice president and Welgoss’ club involvement, will help the duo serve the students.
“(The SGA members are) doing our jobs and working together in unison to really represent the students well,” Heaphy said after the win.
Heaphy said he also wants to continue working with this past year’s progress from the Thompson and Heaphy Administration.
“We’ve been able to streamline our clubs department, diversify (SGA’s) representation, and sponsor student initiatives,” Heaphy said. “Next year, it’s going to be building on that success.”
Welgoss also said he wanted Liberty to host a church fair, allowing local churches to engage with students, leading to more involvement in the community.
Heaphy and Welgoss will officially come into office during the fall of 2016.
TILLER is the feature editor.