Temple United defeats Diamond Nation in TSG executive election

Temple United defeated Diamond Nation in this year’s TSG executive election and will hold office for the 2013-14 academic year.

TSG Student Body President-elect Darin Bartholomew, Vice President of Services-elect Cree Moore and Vice President of External Affairs-elect Sonia Galiber were announced as the winning ticket at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday in Temple Student Government’s office.

“I’m pretty excited,” Bartholomew said. “I think we ran a great campaign, we kept everything positive and my whole team did great.”

Temple United received 1,344 votes, while Diamond Nation earned 719 votes with 12 abstentions.

A total of 2,075 students voted in the TSG executive election, which is a steep drop from the 2,658 votes that were cast last year.

Bartholomew said TempleUnited’s first actions in office will be to meet with officials regarding the use of Owl Cards as acceptable forms of payment for SEPTA transportation, to figure out the logistics of the book share initiative and to meet with the current administration, Temple Advocating Progress, to start the transition period.

“[TAP] put in a lot of effort to make sure that we can transfer smoothly, more smoothly that ever before and I want to make sure that we are able to fulfill that vision they had to make a smooth transition,” Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew said he would also sit down with Diamond Nation candidate for student body president Anthony Torres to discuss Diamond Nation’s initiatives.

“At the end of the day, we are all students and we are all here to make Temple better,” Bartholomew said.

Torres, joined by candidate for vice president of services Patricia Boateng and candidate for vice president of external affairs Danube Johnson, made up the Diamond Nation ticket.

“I would honestly say that one thing about our campaign is that we got together kind of late, so that kind of hurt us,” Torres said. “At the same time, I wouldn’t change anything because I love the people I work with.”

Torres, the current TSG Director of Local and Community Affairs, said he is unsure if he will apply to hold a director position in TSG next year.

Laura Detter can be reached at laura.detter@temple.edu.