By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
Student body treasurer wins SGA presidency in unopposed race; Rankin takes VP spot
Northwestern junior Erika Hernandez, who has served in the Northwestern Student Government Association since her freshman year, will be the organization’s next president.
Hernandez was the only student who filed to run for the highest-ranking position in the Student Government Association, which plans campus activities and acts as a liaison between the student body and university administrators.
“I am honored to be able to hold that position next year,” Hernandez said. “I’m so excited to be able to work for the students. I hope I can create a good environment for everyone.”
Austin Rankin, a student body senator, will be the organization’s next vice president. He was also unopposed.
Filing for the offices closed Friday. Students will vote via email April 4 and 5 to elect a student body secretary and treasurer.
Hernandez, an elementary education major from Laverne, said Monday that she is excited for the opportunity to lead students. She has served as a student body senator and was elected to the treasurer’s position in 2021.
“I knew SGA was a big part of the university,” she said. “I loved working with the people I was elected with. … I was excited to run again.”
Hernandez is a first-generation college student, and she has served as president of the university’s Spanish Club for three years. She’s also the lone student on the search committee tasked with replacing retiring Northwestern President Dr. Janet Cunningham.
Hernandez said she hopes to create new campus events for students.
She also hopes she can help change some features of the university’s Blackboard system, which tracks student grades and serves as a platform for turning in assignments. She’d also like to create a hammock park on campus, she said.
Hernandez encourages students to voice their concerns to her, she said. She wants to emulate Cunningham, whom she described as a supportive, outgoing leader.
“I want to be like that and follow her example to be an approachable person, where people can come and talk to me for any suggestions,” she said.
Hernandez said she looks forward to meeting more of the university’s students and faculty members.
“I hope that I can do a good job to represent, to be the voice of the students,” Hernandez said.
Rankin, a sophomore political science major from Waynoka who has served in student government since his freshman year, said he is excited to serve Rangers as vice president.
“I really look forward to this term as vice president,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic opportunity. I encourage students to hold the officer team accountable. If they think that we are not fully working to our capacity, please let us know. Please talk to us. Please have a conversation and open to us the ideas that you would like to see happening.”
Rankin, a resident assistant in Coronado Hall, started the university’s Collegiate 4-H Club. He is also a member of the Northwestern Scholar Ambassadors program.
On March 24, he was named a 2022 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a non-profit organization in Boston that aims to guide students with political and civic interests.
Like Hernandez, Rankin said he hopes to create new campus events for students and increase student participation in them. He also wants to reevaluate and possibly change the Student Government Association’s bylaws to make the organization more efficient, he said.
He said he encourages students to get involved with student body leaders.
“I want students to know that, first and foremost, I’m here to serve you,” Rankin said. “No matter what you need, no matter what the desire that you have is – if it can make the campus better … come to us.
Bring the idea, and we will do our absolute best to make it a reality.”
