Jonah Kotzen and Meghan Heckelman will be UGBC’s next president and vice president, respectively. The team won 1,504 of 2,997 votes after deductions, or 50.2 percent, in Monday’s election.
“I mean I’m honestly just humbled, truly honored to receive this honor, and I can’t wait to get to work,” Kotzen said.
Kotzen, MCAS ’24, and Heckelman, LSEHD ’25, defeated Jordan Nakash and Yosan Tewelde, both MCAS ’24, by a final margin of 11 votes. Nakash and Tewelde initially won by 14 votes before the Elections Committee deducted 25 of their total 1,518 votes—meaning that more students voted for their ticket, and campaign violations made the difference in the election.
The Elections Committee sanctioned Nakash and Tewelde with the 25-point deduction for violating endorsement policy by posting a video on Instagram of two lacrosse players stating their status as Division I athletes while endorsing the team.
“The EC, with a super-majority, voted that Jordan and Yosan’s team, by posting a video of the lacrosse girls explicitly stating they were on the women’s lacrosse team, constituted an endorsement on the grounds that they made clear of their affiliation with the University’s Division 1 Sports team,” the Elections Committee said in an email to The Heights.
Kotzen and Heckelman’s policy platform promises to address the everyday needs of BC students. They outlined four pillars in their campaign: acceptance, academics, activity, and adjustment.
“I’m really excited to get to work,” Heckelman said. “This was very suspenseful. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. But standing outside today, both of us getting absolutely fried sunburnt, was totally worth it, and I’m so excited to get to work.”
Ryan Milligan, Kotzen and Heckelman’s campaign manager and MCAS ’26, said he was overjoyed when he heard the team had won the election.
“We’ve been as a team putting in so much hard work, and I think that to see that hard work be realized,” Milligan said. “We couldn’t be happier.”
Milligan said the team plans to work on many issues in the coming months, especially student concerns surrounding the LGBTQ+ community.
“I think we’re gonna make some progress on LGBTQ+ issues,” Milligan said. “I think that it’s about time.”
Update (4/4/23, 1:54 a.m.): This article was updated to include vote tallies and sanctions from the election.
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