First female student body president elected in 21 years
By Emily Williams, News Editor
Maggie Reilly and Stuart Coulston won the election for Student Body President and Vice President for the 2016-2017 academic year last night, beating out opponents Billy Fitzgerald and Katie Nixdorf. Reilly is Miami's first female Student Body President in 21 years.
"Overall, Stu and I are really excited to get to work … to make the student body as happy and successful as possible," Reilly said.
Voter turnout was up almost 30 percent from last year, with a total of 3,491 votes cast. Reilly and Coulston secured a hefty 72.9 percent of the total vote.
The Associated Student Government (ASG) posted the announcement on Facebook as a live stream video from the ASG headquarters in the Armstrong Student Center. In the video, current Student Body President Joey Parizek delivered the news to Reilly and Coulston.
According to their platform, Reilly and Coulston plan to focus on four main areas during their term - rec center reform, new and adjusted dining options, an increase in transparency with the administration and advocacy for all groups of students.
Reilly has proposed ideas such as building a Res/Rec to replace Withrow Courts and alleviate crowding in recreational spaces, pushing for more franchised dining locations, holding open discussions for students with administrators and meeting with student organizations every week to better gauge their different needs. In place of a fifth platform, Reilly and Coulston left a place for students to submit their own ideas.
The pair, whose campaign slogan was, "A team you can count on," was endorsed by over a dozen current student senators as well as the 2014-2015 Student Body President Cole Tyman.