On April 12, New England College students found out that Seniors would be able to vote in the student senate presidential election for the first time in NEC history.
While meeting with the student senate, the candidates, Tyler Baker and Lily Geber, could not come up with a reasonable way to define what a senior actually is. Geber argued that the cutoff could not be ninety credits because there would be juniors that couldn’t vote. Geber, herself, would be over that threshold.
“Technically, I would be a senior,” she said.
Baker ultimately came up with the idea: to let everybody vote.
“I’m okay with that,” Geber said.
Both candidates agreed it was a good idea and, most important, good for NEC.
While it was big news, the candidates did not have to change up their campaign strategies very drastically. The information came out before their last debate, which was held April 13.
“The way I answered questions—nothing really changed,” Geber said. “Whether it was underclassmen voting, or everybody voting, my answers were still going to be the same.”
Some seniors were also excited to hear the news.
“I’ve been here for 4 years—I know what direction the school needs to go towards,” said Ian Morse, a senior at NEC. “I’ll still care about this school when I graduate.”
“Once I heard the news, I knew it was a perfect way to get them involved,” Geber said, referring to the seniors.
In the end, both the candidates and students agree, this is an important step for NEC.
“Letting seniors vote—it gets more of a representation,” said Morse.
Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Monday night. To vote, go to Blackboard, and go to the ‘courses’ tab. There will be a section for the student senate presidential election. Once you click that, just select your preferred candidate, and you’re done.
