Election results posted

Sasha Parker will be president of Black United Students next year.

BUS executive board election results came out Friday afternoon. Voting was held Wednesday and Thursday in the Student Center and Oscar Ritchie Hall.

Parker, BUS political affairs and grievances chair, will be president; Kevin Gibson Jr., junior financial engineering major, will be vice president; Alisha Alls, sophomore special education major, will be treasurer; and Ryan Robinson, BUS programming co-chair, will be secretary.

Other positions will be filled later this semester by appointment.

“I knew that it was going to be a real close race between myself and Kareem,” Parker said about her opponent Kareem Mitchell. “I wasn’t nervous, but I knew it could have gone either way.”

She said she thinks Mitchell, junior justice studies major, would have made a good president.

Parker said she isn’t worried about the open positions. People have already started calling her about filling them. She said she expects those who didn’t win in the election to pursue the positions, such as political affairs and grievance chair and community affairs.

Riajo Loftin, BUS historian and treasurer, ran for vice president but lost to Gibson. She said she wasn’t disappointed by the results because she thinks he will do well in the position.

Now she will try for academic affairs, she said. Citing her strong academic record and experience with Upward Bound, she said she has many ideas for next year. She said she wants to start more study groups, working with Greek groups and the university mentoring programs.

Gibson said there are no hard feelings between him and Loftin. They were friends before the election and still are, he said. He said she would have been a good vice president as well, and, should she be appointed, she would do well as academic affairs.

For next year, he said he wants to increase knowledge about history and identity among black students.

“I want to get my people out of the dark,” he said. “Bring consciousness to them.”

Contact minority affairs reporter Bryan Wroten at [email protected].