Febs elected Bobbi Finkelstein ’21.5 and reelected Rae Aaron ’19.5 as this year’s Feb Student Government Association (SGA) senators on Feb. 23. Diego Garcia, SGA director of membership, reported that Aaron won with 44.57 percent of the vote, while Finkelstein received 31.32 percent. Aaron was reelected speaker of the senate during the SGA meeting on Sunday, Feb. 25.
Both Aaron and Finkelstein said they were excited to represent and serve as voices for their fellow students.
Finkelstein said she was looking forward to getting to know more Febs by working alongside Aaron and the rest of the SGA this coming semester. She also said she was excited to “find ways to maintain the tight-knit Feb community while encouraging Febs to fully integrate into the larger Middlebury community, especially first-years.”
According to Garcia, 142 of 418 possible Febs voted in this year’s election, resulting in a total voter turnout rate of 34 percent. Last year’s February election had a similar turnout rate of 36 percent. Feb elections tend to see a significantly smaller turnout than other elections, such as last semester’s election for first-year senator, which had a voter turnout of over 50 percent.
Garcia said the lower turnout rate was likely a result of Febs having more difficulty publicizing their campaigns. Because Febs, unlike other first years, are not all housed in designated buildings, it can be “tricky for a candidate to strategically place their posters in spots that are guaranteed to have many Febs roaming around,” he said.
In the future, Garcia hopes to see an increase in Feb turnout rates. “I believe that the Feb culture on campus is rather strong,” he said, “and that is something we want reflected in the way they participate in student government.”
