Jeremy Thompson Elected SGA President

By JONATHAN POLSON

Junior Jeremy Thompson was announced as the Student Government Association (SGA) President for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year.

Announced March 1, Thompson beat out two other candidates, Monique de la Cruz and Marco Montero, for the position of SGA President.

Thompson said it was “a really good feeling” to be chosen by the students to serve the UMW community.

As SGA President, he hopes to address the issues between UMW students and the Fredericksburg community.

“The first thing we want to do is help repair the relationship with the community,” said Thompson. “There is a perception that UMW students are the party-hard type. The community finds students disrespectful.”

Thompson said that he believes the situations that have resulted in the students being called nuisances were “isolated incidents.”

He hopes to speak with local community leaders, homeowners associations, and work with local police to “educate the community more on what UMW is really like.”

Thompson said he also wants to increase student participation with the SGA. He hopes to make “SGA more vocal and more public so students have more of a say.”

Thompson said they are attempting to release a SGA transition blog by the end of the week. The blog will be featured on the UMW blogs website and will include the applications for the executive cabinet.

The blog will also have “all of our new policies that we want to start pushing,” said Thompson.

Finally, Thompson said he plans to “continue the work the previous administration was doing,” including the idea of having a safe ride program for students.

Current SGA President Rob Belcourt, a junior, will hold the position of SGA Vice President in the upcoming school year.