Nicole Meyers ’26.5 for SGA President

We are excited to announce our endorsement of Nicole Meyers ’26.5 to serve as the next Student Government Association (SGA) President. Meyers has a composed demeanor and realistic vision for the student body next year. With the intention to appoint well-spoken Anina Dentel-Pham ’27 and thoughtful Anna Miller ’26 as her vice presidents, we believe this trio is best-suited to represent the student body.

The Campus spent 30 minutes with Meyers’ team on Sunday night, in addition to a similar meeting held with one of her opponents, Islam Abushareah ’26.5 and his vice presidential candidates, Nathan Sammons ’27 and Thalía Cerda ’27. We also extended an invitation to Tony Wang ’26 — the third candidate in this race and only contender with no prior SGA experience — who chose not to speak with us. 

Our endorsement plays no role in The Campus’ reporting on the presidential election; we are committed to objective journalism in our newsroom and fact-checked arguments in our opinions section.

Following our discussions, the Editorial Board endorsed Nicole Meyers as a seasoned SGA member with a compelling reason to run and a 10-point plan on how to get things done. Her platform is measured and achievable, presenting students with a reasonable list of goals to work through next year. We noted Meyers’ emphasis on soliciting student feedback, which will help her team stay grounded in improving the day-to-day student experience.

Meyers’ proposals for increasing accessible transportation around campus and during breaks are feasible measures that will have an outsized impact. Her plan to increase accessibility to the Snow Bowl, the Center for Health and Wellness, and our class Deans was notable, too. The student experience is top of mind for Meyers, and it shows.

Her vice presidents were impressive in their own right. Dentel-Pham’s experience as SGA senator and her determined attitude — we saw her carefully noting our questions on prepared Post-It notes — works well on this team. Miller is capable too: their insightful answers about mental health on campus and the importance of reclaiming community spaces brought a compassionate, intelligent perspective to Meyers’ ticket. 

Several of our editors abstained in our final vote, remarking that none of the candidates this year have the energy and vigor necessary to accomplish significant change at the college. We agreed that all three contenders need to bring more urgency to their campaigns — even Meyers sounded unsure about a few pressing concerns, such as whether or not she would raise questions about the recent budget cuts to the Board of Trustees.

Some of her broader policies need rethinking as well. It’s hard to feel inspired to vote for someone based on minor tweaks to the student experience such as signs in the Grille or student feedback on dining when so many feel Middlebury has settled into self-inflicted institutional decline in recent years. Meyers needs more fire in her policies and in her campaign.

The SGA presidential election is usually an exercise in compromise; most recent candidates have been neither visionary changemakers nor firebrand reformers. Such is the nature of student government. Meyers, Dentel-Pham and Miller have the most potential to grow into their roles next year. 

As for the other candidates, we thought Islam Abushareah had some compelling ideas, specifically his admirable intention to stage a student referendum on the financial drain caused by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). Although such a decision on Monterey rests with the Board of Trustees, we need an SGA president willing to stand up to Middlebury’s most powerful leaders — a principle that the other two candidates should incorporate into their campaigns.

But we kept coming back to one question: Why is Abushareah running to be president?

The current Feb Senator and Speaker of the Senate has abundant experience, but he could not respond when asked why he wanted to be president, only repeating that he felt it was “the next step in the ladder.” Furthermore, Abushareah’s dubious plan to be president while studying abroad in Jordan in the fall is likely to stall SGA’s momentum on key issues. Although their plan is flawed, Cerda’s passion for supporting younger students and fighting to increase budgets of departments such as the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) made her stand out to us as a noteworthy candidate in her own right.

One aspect we admired in Meyers’ trio and found lacking in Abushareah’s was their teamwork. Meyers, Dentel-Pham and Miller had a shared vision of the school that emphasized community-building and realistic goals. They come off as poised, competent and coordinated — even their outfits matched. Meanwhile, Abushareah’s team seem to disagree on basic principles for SGA bureaucracy, raising questions about their ability to collaborate next year.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room — or rather, the one who wasn’t there at all. Tony Wang’s inability to attend a 30-minute meeting he previously agreed to raises serious doubts in our minds about his candidacy and the sincerity of his campaign.

His written candidate statement did nothing to assuage our concerns, either: personable yet bland, unspecific and uninspired, it is the exact opposite of what students should look for in a president. Moreover, Wang’s specific policy points seem inflammatory and poorly conceived. Opening faculty and staff parking spots to students after 5 p.m. is a laughable solution to a serious problem, and why would “new donor outreach methods” ever be the prerogative of the SGA president?

Ultimately, the SGA presidential election should rest on the goals of the candidates and their ability to execute those plans. In our interviews, we found just one candidate whose ideas and effectiveness stood up to our scrutiny.

So, when you go to cast your vote next Monday, April 14, we urge you to vote for Nicole Meyers as a competent, steady hand to lead the Student Government Association next year.