Page and Rockey Win Record-breaking SGA Presidential Election

In a record breaking election, Jacob Page and running partner, Derek Rockey won the Liberty University Student Body Presidential election April 20 with more than 3,000 votes.

Between the three tickets, students broke the previous record for total number of votes in an SGA student body election, with 6,196 votes for the 2018-2019 race. During the 2017 student body election, 4,006 votes were cast, according to SGA Head Election Commissioner Luke Broadway.

The other campaigns, Caleb Fitzpatrick and Esther Lusenge received 2,681, and AJ Strom and Chris Porter garnered 277.

After hearing the results, Page and Rockey were shocked at their win, and Rockey remarked on how running for student body vice president was an unexpected journey he never thought he would take.

“I just can’t,” Rockey said. “I literally can’t. I don’t even know what is going on, and I don’t get it at all. Honestly, we are so unworthy. When I first stepped on campus, there was no chance. I didn’t even know what SGA was, and now like — there is a God.”

Both candidates said they attribute their success to God and that the entire campaign was one miraculous encounter after another from how they met to the people that the Lord placed in across their paths to support the campaign.

“From the very beginning, that’s why I got in, because I felt like that is where God was calling me,” Page said, “And then people just came around us and God just put people in our paths to fill every position we needed. We couldn’t have done it without the team.”

The president-elect said they are preparing to serve the student body and work with Liberty athletics to do the things they promised in their campaign, which put emphasis on establishing school spirit, pride and tradition by creating a unified culture celebrating Liberty through tailgating, promoting class rings and creating an event calendar for clubs.

The two discussed this vision at the SGA presidential debate on April 19 and had to defend some of these policies under the criticism of the other candidates who felt their policies were irrelevant to students’ needs.

During the debate, Page directly addressed these concerns, saying they were receiving backlash because their policies had never been presented before. However, student body president candidate Fitzpatrick said that presenting policies during the debate is not enough.

“The reason you guys received flack for your policies is not because it’s different, new or innovative — the house is burning down, and you guys want to rearrange the living room furniture,” Fitzpatrick said during the debate.

As remarks got more heated, Page and Rockey pulled back instead of retaliating. After the debate, they said they felt it was best to stay quiet.

“We knew our policies could speak for themselves,” Rockey said.

Other topics that were discussed at the debate included club funding and marketing, community outreach and representation of minorities on campus.

Now, as Page and Rockey prepare for the upcoming year, Rockey said they are making a list of everything they said they would do and will be checking it off as they go.

“That way, we have tangible stuff to look forward to,” Rockey said, “And then we plan on going above and beyond.”

They know they have a lot of work to do, but they said their biggest encouragement is knowing that there are so many people who have already expressed that they will support them and partner with their cause.

“I cannot wait to just work with people and be able to tell them, ‘Hey, student government has got your back,’ and connect with all the different departments,” Page said.