The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Mitchell Franz

Jon Barnhart was elected Syracuse University's Student Association president early Friday morning, in the first contested election in two years.

In SA's 54th election, 2,587 students, 18.5 percent of full-time undergraduate SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students, voted, said Alec Sim, a member of SA's Board of Elections and Membership. He said this was the lowest voter turnout in the three years he has been on the election board.

Barnhart defeated his opponent, Hari Iyer, with 1,989 votes, 78.3 percent of the 2,539 votes cast for president. Iyer received 489 votes for president, 19.3 percent. Sixty-one write-in votes were cast, Sim said. Barnhart will take office Jan. 25, SA's first meeting of 2010.

Barnhart walked out of Ernie Davis Hall's main lounge Friday to take a phone call at 12:15 a.m. His supporters waited in anticipation until Barnhart walked back into the room to announce the results.

"Thank you guys for all your hard work, and congratulations - because we did it," he said.

Sim, who informed Barnhart of his win, said Barnhart was very relaxed when he found out.



"And knowing Jon, that is stereotypical him to be very calm and collected," Sim said.

Barnhart will hold open interviews to determine who he will name his vice president. He will also hold interviews for all committee chair positions. While the junior political science and international relations major has certain people in mind for positions, he said he wants to make the most qualified decisions possible.

Even though Barnhart's term does not officially begin until January, he said he and his campaign manager, Neal Casey, started planning his transition Friday.  

"It's a big weight off the shoulders, but as soon as I wake up tomorrow, it starts over again as far as transitioning," Barnhart said after he learned of his victory. 

Barnhart ran on a platform of safety, inclusion for students and laying the groundwork for lock-in tuition. With the rest of the assembly, he has also pushed for a separate day off for students after SU announced the reinstatement of classes on SU Showcase. He doesn't plan to pursue one initiative over another and said he hopes to tackle as much as he can during his term.

"It's not going to be tackling one issue at a time," Barnhart said. "I laid out a big platform, and I'm well aware of it."

Continued...

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