‘Evolution’ wins

Temple Student Government announced Thursday the results of its election, officially naming Raysean Hogan the assembly’s next student body president.

Hogan ran as a part of the “Owl Evolution” slate, along with Priya Patel, the vice president-elect of academic affairs, and Juan Galeano, the vice president-elect of student affairs.

“Owl Evolution” ran against the “Building Temple Tradition” slate, which included Ryan Feldman, Mawata Dunbar and Paolo DeVito.

“Owl Evolution” received 2,201 votes compared to the 1,083 votes that “Building Temple Tradition” garnered.

This year’s vote total was slightly down from the 3,306 cast last year. This year’s election total also ends the three-year trend of increased voter turnout that began in 2003.

Hogan, a risk management and insurance major, is currently president of the Main Campus Program Board. A resident of Los Angeles, Hogan said he has always been entrepreneurial but he never planned on becoming student body president after transferring to Temple from St. John’s University.

“Once I started noticing that I could make changes happen, I just kept going and never stopped,” Hogan said about his decision to run for president.

Patel is a member of the Business Honors Student Association and is the director of fund raising for Phi Beta Lambda. Patel said she gained a “great appreciation” for the university through her business commitments and the time she spent studying abroad.

She said she wants to be an “agent of change” for issues that concern students.

Galeano is the current TSG diversity affairs co-chair. Galeano said he received encouragement from current TSG President Oscar Chow and Chow’s predecessor, Naeem Thompson.

“If you can impact other people’s lives … like Naeem and Oscar did for me, then the possibilities of what your legacy could be are never-ending,” Galeano said.

Last Thursday, supporters from both slates waited in the hallway outside of the TSG office in the Student Center as Dean of Students Ainsley Carry and TSG Elections Commissioner Patrice Whiting revealed the results to the candidates behind the closed door.

Galeano and Patel said they were anxious and nervous to hear the outcome.

Hogan said he was completely calm.

“I wasn’t nervous and I wasn’t anxious, because I felt like we did everything that we could have done,” Hogan said.

“If there was something that we left out, I would’ve been nervous, … but honestly, at that point, win or lose, I felt like there was nothing more that we could’ve done.”

When Whiting announced the results, the candidates – and the people waiting outside the door – said they were surprised by their margin of victory.

Galeano said he thought the race would be closer.

“They had strong promotions; they were all over the place handing out flyers and other materials,” Galeano said.

“We weren’t sure how big of a difference it would be.”

Patel attributed the vote total for “Owl Evolution” to the members’ ability to network and from the support they received from students, student leaders, faculty and administration.

“Between the three of us we have a lot of friends and we know a lot of people in different groups,” Patel said.

“I think that helps out a lot. You can reach out to a lot of different people and those people will support you and, in turn, spread the support as well.”

“Owl Evolution” ran on a platform including nearly 40 points divided into five categories: academics, student life, student organizations, TSG and off-campus issues.

Galeano said “Owl Evolution” wants to work on setting up a student meeting with members of the Board of Trustees and providing off-campus students the option of paying their rent through their tuition.

Hogan said “progress is being made” and “progress will be made” in the rent payment issue, but he also said it is ultimately out of their control and will have to be approved by administration, including accounting and legal departments.

The members of “Owl Evloution” also said they hope to get students more involved on campus next school year.

Hogan said he is disappointed that many students are “accepting what they are given” and not asking questions or voicing concerns about their college experience.

“I don’t think people realize the power that they have as students,” Hogan said.

“As students, we pay tuition, [therefore] we should be concerned with what the university does and [students] aren’t.”

Patel said there is a perception among many students that Temple “is just a place to go to take classes and then you leave.”

“We want people to see that it’s more than that,” Patel said. “This is a place where you can make lifelong friendships and relationships. You can take what you learn in these four years and apply it to the rest of your life.”

Galeano said the members of “Owl Evolution” have forged a strong relationship through the election process.

“I feel like I can tell them anything,” Galeano said while smiling. “We’re going to get a lot done.”

The candidates from “Owl Evolution” will be sworn in May 1.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.