Grey, Troy to Lead Senate in 2020-21 Academic Year

Posted By Benjamin Pontz on Apr 19, 2020 | 0 comments

Kurtis Grey (L) and Katherine Troy (R)

By Benjamin Pontz, Editor-in-Chief

Kurtis Grey ’21 and Katherine (Katie) Troy ’21 will serve as president and vice president, respectively, of the Gettysburg College Student Senate for the 20-21 academic year.

Grey, whose leadership experience includes serving President of Lambda Chi Alpha and as a member of Army ROTC, captured 32 percent of the vote to edge three other candidates and win the presidency.

Troy, whose primary campus involvement in addition to Senate has been as President of Alpha Delta Pi, coasted to victory by a larger margin, winning 52 percent of the vote and nearly doubling the vote total of her nearest competitor in the vice presidential contest.

Four percent fewer votes were cast this year than last: overall turnout between the two elections represented 32 percent of the eligible voting population, which included current first-years, sophomores, and juniors. Grey’s margin of victory was narrower than last year’s as well, when Patrick McKenna ’20 took 50 percent of votes cast en route to winning the presidency.

“I’m glad that the student body trusted me to lead and am excited to do the best I can!” Grey said. “My initial priority, once the technocratic positions are elected, will definitely be to work on transitioning all of our officers into their new roles. Especially given the circumstances, I want everyone to have plenty of discussion so that they feel ready to hit the ground running. Beyond that, I’m excited to start exploring the potential avenues of approach for increasing opportunities to discuss campus’ social issues within Student Senate so that we can begin to make the necessary changes.”

Presidential Election Results

Grey framed his campaign around building stronger connections between the student body and Senate, noting that transparency was a key ingredient to success on that front. He criticized the current Senate leadership for making too many decision behind closed doors and pledged an open deliberative process during a candidate forum held last week.

“I think that what I’ve noticed especially this year is that there’s a lot of lack of transparency,” he said, listing several examples of when the executive board made decisions behind closed doors, depriving the entire body of Senate the chance to participate in discussions around constitutional issues, budget issues, and Senate precedent. “The student body wasn’t informed of decisions that were being made that may not represent their best interests.”

Grey expressed interest in positioning Senate to facilitate conversations on key campus issues such as the relationship between the Greek and non-Greek communities, pointing to the 2018-19 academic year’s Senate Committee on Greek Life as the type of deep dive he would like to see.

“By addressing these issues, I hope to create a ripple effect outside of Student Senate, allowing Students to submit the issues that they see, creating more ad hoc committees to address specific issues,” he said in a statement of purpose prior to the election.

Grey has served as Senate’s Public Relations chair and as a club representative, but never as a senator. In addition to serving as President of Lambda Chi Alpha, he is a member of ROTC and participates in programs through the Center for Public Service.

Vice Presidential Election Results

On the vice presidential side, Troy won more than half the vote. She said that Senate has had a positive impact on her since her first year and that she hopes to cultivate that type of mentorship for other students.

“I think that I have the personal drive and the personal experience of how I want all senators to feel when they’re starting out,” she said. “And I think that that mentorship that I can provide to them is really going to be super valuable and their experience as they continue throughout Senate during their time at Gettysburg.”

The primary responsibility of the vice president is to oversee elections, and Troy cited her experience doing so in her sorority as preparation for assuming that role in Senate.

In terms of an issue agenda, she referred to accessibility concerns on campus as a potential area for Senate to tackle.

“I am looking forward to working together with Kurtis to listen to the student body and help students find practical, effective, and timely solutions to their concerns,” Troy said. “I sincerely hope that both Matt and Lauren continue participating in Student Senate because they have a lot of innovative ideas to offer.”

Both Grey and Troy suggested that improving diversity within Senate is important to them as well, though neither laid out any specific new proposals to do so. Nadine Snyder ’21, who came in third in the presidential election, for example, had suggested creating a new position on the executive board focused on diversity and inclusion. Troy did, however, did signal support for an existing proposal to incorporate bias prevention training into first-year orientation.

Elections for secretary, treasurer, and parliamentarian will be held Monday.

“Thank you to all the candidates who ran,” current President Pat McKenna ’20 said. “We had the largest field of candidates in years and despite being remote we managed to maintain a similar turnout to on-campus elections last year. Best of luck moving forward and I look forward to working with Kurtis and Katie to transition for next year.”