Wright State University Student Government elections came to a close on March 21 with the announcement of Ivan Mallett as student body president for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Mallett’s campaign led the polls with 753 votes, followed by Emily Bundesen at 527 and Sarah Marsh with 267.
When he discovered he had won, Mallett said he was “ecstatic.”
“I’m really thankful for my team. I know my team really worked hard … to see all of that pay off with the result that we wanted was just awesome,” Mallett said.
Mallett is an experienced student leader. He is the sitting chief of staff for Student Government Association (SGA) and president of Lambda Chi Alpha at Wright State. He was involved in a 2017 student-led initiative to make college textbooks tax-exempt in Ohio. Mallett also served as director of legislative affairs for the Ohio Student Government Association, where he represented hundreds of thousands of students across the state.
Through those experiences, Mallett learned the value of public transparency.
“Being able to effectively communicate not only with my team, so we have a shared vision from within, but being able to communicate externally so that other people know exactly what our goals are and how we’re trying to accomplish them … it’s important,” Mallett said.
As student body president, Mallett plans to continue existing SGA projects, including Retain the 9, an initiative to preserve minority student enrollment, and the Campus Engagement Project which seeks to establish an independent recreation facility on campus.
SGA representatives have been working to bring a new recreation facility to campus since at least September. They are asking students to vote on whether or not to build a facility through a referendum, which will be made available on 8 a.m. April 8 to 5 p.m. April 12. If passed, WSU students would have to contribute up to $260 per semester, according to Mallett.
The $260 cost to students assumes that Wright State receives no additional funding for a recreation facility, Mallett said. SGA has plans to secure state funding as well, according to Mallett.
An independent recreation facility would help draw more students to WSU, Mallett said.
“How do we market ourselves to incoming students without being able to offer them the same amenities as comparable schools? Obviously, academics is a huge part of a student’s choice in where they go, but another aspect that has been neglected for a long time at Wright State is student life,” Mallett said.
Mallett said that expanding on existing recreation spaces in the Student Union is “not manageable,” whereas spaces in the Nutter Center have limited availability.
“I would argue that there is not enough space in our existing areas to renovate or improve them to a point where it would suffice for what we need,” Mallett said.
Mallett said that SGA is considering a few locations on campus where a recreation facility could be built but declined to comment further.
Like all SGA presidential candidates, Mallett said he was concerned by this semester’s faculty strike and wants to mend divisions within the campus community. One way he plans to work toward that goal is to hold regular town hall sessions on campus.
“One thing that really brought people back down to earth and made us see more eye-to-eye… was being able to have open dialogue with each other,” Mallett said. “I want to make those a little more solidified and a little more official.”
Mallett thanked the student body and his team and said he is looking forward to his term as student body president.
