Taylor Stepp, a second-year in Russian and public affairs, and Kevin Arndt, a third-year in political science and public affairs, have won the 2012 Undergraduate Student Government Presidential Election.
The 2012 election had the best voter turnout since the 1975 USG election. This year, 8,653 votes were cast. In 1975, 8,770 votes were cast.
Running on the “Buckeye State of Mind” platform, Stepp and Arndt said they want to bring USG back to the students. Stepp said his biggest concern is making the university area a safer place.
“It feels pretty surreal right now,” Stepp said. “I’m going to be emailing administrators tomorrow about putting together our five-step safety plan.”
The five-step plan includes preparations to increase funding for Student Safety Services, a gradual growth to the Student Safety Service budget, a push for a mutual-aid agreement between the Columbus Division of Police and Ohio State Police, the creation of a “Safe-Walk program” and an increase in safety education.
“We need to stop making safety a PR issue. Instead of these grandeur announcements about task forces and not a lot of implementable ideas, we need to make it more about protecting students and not about protecting the university’s PR,” Arndt told The Lantern.
Stepp said he wants to work with the outgoing president and vice president, Nick Messenger and Emily DeDonato, to ensure a smooth transition.
“We want to start planning tomorrow,” Stepp said. “I’m going to be putting my staff together in the next few days.”
Messenger’s last day in office is April 29, and Stepp said he wants to get right to work, working for the students.
Check out Monday’s edition of The Lantern for more information about the winning duo.
