Editor’s Note: Three members of The Phoenix’s Spring ’25 Editorial Board (Editor-in-Chief Melanie Zelle ’26, Layout Editor Erin Picken ’27, and Sports Editor Katie Kerman ’26), as well as one member of The Phoenix’s Staff (News Writer Reina Jones ’27) ran for and were elected to the Student Government executive board or senate, with Zelle, Picken and Jones being part of The People’s Slate. They were not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
Over the last few weeks, the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) sent out the results to three rounds of elections for different offices of Swarthmore Student Government Organization (SGO) for the 2025-26 academic year. The elections, usually a somewhat low-turnout affair, saw significantly higher participation and interest this year due to more attention being placed on the Student Government’s paths to administrative power within the college.
After the platform period for the election to SGO presidency closed, only one ticket had declared their candidacy. Abby Guise ’26, 2024-25 Chair of Student Life, and Luca Campiani ’26, 2024-25 Chair of Academic Affairs, ran for Student Body President and Vice President, respectively. The ticket’s platform focused on student experience, connections, and campus life, with a focus on increased communication and outreach from student government itself.
Running unopposed, Guise and Campiani were announced as the President and Vice President-elect of SGO on April 9.
Guise says that she is ready for the role. In email communication with The Phoenix, she wrote, “I think my understanding of SGO from the past three years has set me up well to be successful in this role.” She continued, “I want to create a Swat experience that is shaped by Swatties, and that was a big motivator in my decision to run.”
On their approach to campaigning, Guise wrote that given her and Campiani’s lack of a competitor, “we wanted to focus more on our efforts after the election and really ensure that we can be successful in our initiatives and create plans now to do so.”
On April 13, the night before voting began in the elections to SGO’s Executive Board, a new group of students announced their candidacy on social media and to OSE for all the executive board positions as part of “The People’s Slate.” The slate, which called themselves “candidates running to seize the moment for the student body and democratize Swarthmore,” included Melanie Zelle ’26 running for Chair of Academic Affairs, Wyatt Brannon ’26 for Internal Affairs, Joe Fox ’27 for Organizations, Brandon Sorongon ’27 for Diversity and Inclusion, Erin Picken ’27 for Student Life, and Irene Hill ’27 for Outreach. The announcement included a call for students to “vote to democratize campus,” starting Monday at 10 a.m.
Asked about the inspiration for the slate, Brannon, a spokesperson, wrote in communication with The Phoenix, “Several of us are former SGO members, and we’ve seen how SGO actively decides not to use its power to help students.” That, combined with a low-turnout presidential race that spoke to the potential ability for candidates to win, inspired the slate to form.
The People’s Slate’s official platform elaborates on the slogan of democratizing the campus. The platform aims to restore student voices on the Board of Managers, improve communication with the student body, democratize the distribution of funds, establish a labor committee, prioritize transparency with administration, and hold referenda on critical campus issues.
Brannon wrote that the creation of their platform was a collaborative process, but that part of the inspiration for it came from a document they had already written on “how SGO’s powers could be leveraged in favor of student interests.”
Brannon sees the existence of a whole slate of candidates as essential to its goal. “There are systemic issues with institutions like SGO, and we needed an entire slate to be elected to address those issues. When we run with a slate, it is clear that we will be working together not only during but also after the election,” they wrote.
Guise said she was initially a little surprised about the emergence of the slate following her election to the presidency. She continued, though, writing “I was also happy that there was some competition in the elections, as it demonstrated engagement and interest in SGO and the importance our body has in advocating for student voices.”
While some candidates on the slate ran unopposed, Bradley Holland ’27 also ran for Chair of Academic Affairs on a platform of “aligning the College’s strategic plan with student interests” and “keeping our graduation requirements simple.” Adina Shane ’27 ran for Chair of Internal Affairs with her campaign focusing on consistency of representation, increased communication, and collaboration. Alice Coxe ’27 ran for Student Life Chair to “improve the lives of the student body through organizing events and considering student input,” and Cayla Kushner ’27 ran for Chair of Outreach with the goals of promoting dialogue between students and administration, boosting extracurricular activities, addressing academic and athletic credit issues, and continuing her work on the Gender and Sexuality Center’s Period Initiative.
During the voting period from Monday, April 14 through Wednesday, April 16, candidates campaigned by tabling at the Dining and Community Commons and amplifying their platforms, and in the case of The People’s Slate, the slate’s platform, on social media.
The Student Government Organization announced the winners of the executive board elections on the morning of Thursday, April 17. Members of The People’s Slate won the races for all six executive board positions in elections that saw much higher turnout than previous years. 538 students voted in all six elections this year, representing 32% of the student body, compared to last year’s executive board elections that saw no more than 5% turnout. All 2025 election results are shown below. This increased turnout is likely in large part due to the more active campaigning that occurred this year, both because there was more competition in the elections (only one of last year’s executive board elections was contested) and because of an environment of heightened attention on all campus politics.
With the entire executive board elected, platforming for elections to the Student Government Senate soon opened up. The morning that voting began, The People’s Slate announced their candidates: Anja Jolin to represent the Class of ’26; Reina Jones, Danny Ly, and Nick Rodriguez to represent the Class of ’27; Reem Benhaddouch, Annie Liu, and Yi-Mei Liu to represent the Class of ’28; Brandon Castaño ’27, Danae Davis ’27, Lyra Ederington ’27, Jennifer Phan ’28, Jonah Sah ’27, Gabriella Vasquez ’27 for at-large Senators.
Also running to be Senators were Jackson Haynes ’26, Avi Berman ’26, and Katie Kerman ’26, all to represent the Class of ’26, and Teddy King-Pollet ’28 to represent the Class of ’28. Logan Aboudara ’27 and William Jin ’27 also ran to be at-large Senators, with Jin mounting a very active campaign. Through postering and social media, Jin, perhaps a bit satirically, challenged The People’s Slate to a debate and accused them of attempting one-party rule and affiliation with various far-left movements throughout history.
In addition to Kerman and Berman, every member of The People’s Slate for Senate won a seat. Brannon attributes this success to a widespread desire for change. “Students are frustrated with the way the school is being run, and students are frustrated that SGO isn’t using its powers (even if they are limited) to help students. Students want change,” he wrote.
With the spring elections to student government complete, these elected students are looking to the fall, when more will be known about the college’s place in relation to the Trump administration and beyond. Asked about how SGO will work on these issues, Guise wrote that she wants SGO to take on the role of facilitating conversations. “I want to make sure students feel heard and that their concerns and voices are being brought to the SGO Executive Board and the College’s Administration more broadly. Communication is the best way we can support one another during this time of political uncertainty,” she said.
The President-elect and the slate have some overlapping interests. As Guise wrote, “Communication and transparency are my two biggest goals for this coming year, both from SGO and the College’s administrators.” She elaborated, “Additionally, this position also enables me to connect with administrators on campus and strongly advocate for students’ needs and concerns.”
Guise’s focus is on making SGO a “trusted voice,” saying, “I really want SGO to be more well-known, especially the important work we are doing on behalf of the student body. I also want to better communicate information from administration, the work that admin is doing, and reasons behind their decisions.”
Brannon says that elected students from The People’s Slate will share more of their immediate plans once they all take office on May 10, but says they are “absolutely determined to deliver change.”
Both the slate and Guise expressed their need and desire to work together. “I don’t think there is a difference between students who were on the People’s Slate and those who were not. I think we are all passionate about some of the same things, and we all ran for a position on SGO to get things done,” said Guise. Brannon agrees, writing, “We extend our hand in good faith to everyone in SGO, regardless of whether they were elected with the People’s Slate or not.”
