On the evening of April 9, SGA Elections Commissioners Sid Wadhera and On Tim Tang announced to the Colgate community that Derek Baker and Marie St. Claire will serve as the 2017-2018 SGA President and Vice President, respectively. Campaigning on a platform referred to as “Colgate Together,” Baker, St. Claire and their campaign team promoted a variety of academic, environmental and social reforms at Colgate.

In the weeks and months leading up to the election, Baker and St. Claire, along with their team of SGA-affiliated students, promoted their candidacy by expressing their core values.

On Baker and St. Claire’s campaign website, their campaign mission states, “We are dedicated to improving Colgate through hard work and a passion for our campus and the people on it. As representatives of the student body, we recognize and embrace the fact that we are leaders serving all students on campus. We look forward to working with you and creating a campus that is Colgate Together.”

Baker and St. Claire enjoyed considerable support from a variety of academic, athletic, philanthropic and social organizations on campus. During their campaign, Baker and St. Claire received endorsements from Colgate men’s lacrosse, BRITE, MELANATED Dance Company, Colgate Women in Business, Blue Diamond Society and other student organizations.

In the academic arena, Baker and St. Claire hope to incur considerable academic policy reform to increase transparency in Colgate’s liberal arts curriculum. Some initiatives they hope to pursue include having syllabi posted online before class selection, working with the administration to create a system of online grading, pursuing the inclusion of non-western texts in core curriculum and providing required texts on reserve.

In regards to student life and the social experience at Colgate, Baker and St. Claire hope to promote greater options for interpersonal social engagement, while making the campus more inclusive and safe for all members of the Colgate community. Some student life-related initiatives that Baker and St. Claire promoted in their campaign include reassessing medical amnesty as it pertains to Greek Life so that Campus Safety can be called without risking the shutdown of an event, working for the expansion of Broad Street Housing, continuing discussions with the administration to improve the ease of non-affiliated social hosting and creating an official space for international students on campus.

Finally, Baker and St. Claire advocated for considerable sustainability reform during their campaign this semester. These policies that formed an integral part of Colgate Together’s platform work to increase awareness and appreciation for an environmentally-friendly lifestyle, while making conscious changes to the Colgate policies to reduce pollution and Colgate’s carbon footprint. Going forward, Baker and St. Claire hope to establish clothing donation bins on campus, make environmentally-related classes part of the CORE curriculum, increase recycling facilities in all Broad Street Housing and apartments and mandate recycling policies at fraternity-sponsored parties. 

Sophomore David Sakara was excited to learn of the election results, as he looks favorably upon Baker and St. Claire’s approach to campus issues.

“I’m happy that our student government will be led by people who are driven to improve Colgate for marginalized groups,” Sakara said. “They are probably the candidates most able to empathize with the concerns of the LGBTQ community and survivors of sexual violence, and I hope the rest of us can unite behind them.”

Junior Olivia Haller spoke to her confidence in Baker and his sound leadership skills.

“Derek has worked very hard in SGA over the last three years, and I know he is committed to making a difference on this campus,” Haller said.