Vote for your Student Delegate
THELMO elections are underway, and while it might not be for a position that you’ve heard of, it’s a lot more important than you might think.
As a private, nonprofit institution, St. Lawrence is run by a Board of Trustees, a group of alumni who are charged with the duty of managing the university’s funds. In this duty, they make many decisions that have a direct impact on the student body. For this reason, it is essential that the students have a representative who can interface with this board and make them aware of our issues.
This representative is the Student Delegate to the Board of Trustees. This student leader attends all three meetings of the board each year and delivers a report to them on student life, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of it. The student delegate is also one of six members of the THELMO senior executive board, and in that capacity, they have the opportunity to pursue various initiatives here on campus. For example, the current delegate, Allee Mack, runs a Dining Services Task Force that works with Dining Services to ensure that students’ wants and needs are met in terms of the quality and variety of food at our campus eateries. Allee’s position is now up for grabs, and there are three candidates on the ballot who may fill it.
Danny Ruaño ’25 runs with the issues of the Laurentians who have felt left out in mind. He notices a lack of organization in the leadership on this campus, which leads to student events being unsuccessful, with low attendance and frequent cancelations. In Danny’s view, this leads to students feeling unwelcome, with little hope for change. In his campaign, Danny highlights the multitude of ways he has been involved in the SLU community, having served on nine different eboards and worked with institutions, including the Wellness Office and the Center for the Environment. Using these experiences, Danny plans to bring these organizational issues to light and make a difference.
Navya Aggarwal ’26 is committed to “paving the path towards change.” Navya is active in many student organizations. She has served on the eboards of Common Ground Connections and the African Student Union, is a member of multiple honor societies, and works as a CA and as an ambassador to international students. She also has served in the THELMO Senate since her freshman year. Through all of these experiences, she has identified three primary issues that she centers her campaign around solving. These are providing gender-neutral bathrooms in buildings on campus where they are missing, making halal meat an option in the dining halls, and continuing the fight for increased student wages. She is also open to conversations with students about other issues the university is facing.
Dexter Seeley ’25 wants to bring a new level of transparency to the THELMO eboard. He is active within many groups on campus and is a member of multiple honor societies. He wants to provide students with access to information on where their tuition money is being spent.
Dexter also supports better transportation services to Potsdam. Additionally, he wants to bridge the gap between the Board of Trustees and the student body by providing information to students about the board members and encouraging more contact between students and the board. Dexter also wants to increase transparency between students and the THELMO eboard by hosting weekly drop-in sessions where students can come to him with their issues. Dexter believes he has the ability to make these changes, drawing on his years of experience in THELMO, having served as both a Senator since his freshman year and, more recently as Vice President of Senate Affairs.
Voting opened on the 17th and will remain open until the 24th. The voting form can be found on Presence through the link you received in your emails or through the QR codes on posters around campus. Vote, make your voice heard!
In other elections news, THELMO is still seeking applicants from the class of ’26 for the position of Assistant Treasurer.