Graduate students elected Sydney Kaplan (19L) as their next Graduate Student Government Association (GSGA) president.
Kaplan defeated Sakinah Watts (19B) in a run-off for the position, earning 598 votes (52.3 percent), while Watts received 545 votes (47.7 percent), according to GSGA Chief of Staff Kyle Davis (18B).
Kaplan was a legislator for the second GSGA legislature this past year. Before attending Emory School of Law, Kaplan earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and criminology from the University of Florida, where she also served in student government.
Kaplan said that meeting with each graduate school divisional dean and president are among her first priorities. She added that she wants to start working on some of her platform points immediately, such as making printing free for graduate students.
“I think my [free printing initiative] is going to be one of my first priorities in office because that’s going to be a long-term goal that’s going to take working with the administration to make happen,” Kaplan said.
About 15.6 percent of graduate students voted in the run-off election. According to Emory’s website, the University enrolled 7,336 graduate students in Fall 2017. The run-off voting period was open from April 5 to 6.
“I was really happy to see the turnout in the run-off election was almost the same as the general election,” Kaplan said.
Kylee Borger (19PH) received 311 votes (26 percent) in the general elections held last week and was eliminated from the competition.
Elyse Cooke (20T) won the uncontested GSGA vice presidential race with 1,035 votes (87 percent) and 160 votes (13 percent) of no confidence.
Watts did not respond to request for comment.
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