Chas Steinbrugge ’24, the student behind the @BrownUMemes Instagram account, was elected president of the Undergraduate Council of Students after receiving a plurality of votes, while Amienne Spencer-Blume ’23 was elected as chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board, the Student Government Association announced on the steps of the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center Monday night.
“Everyone did a really good job campaigning,” Steinbrugge said. “I’m very excited to take charge and try to improve UCS.”
Mina Sarmas ’24 will serve as UCS vice president, and Arjun Krishna Chopra ’25 will serve as UFB vice chair next year. Carina Sandoval ’23 and Sally Zhang ’23 were elected senior co-presidents of the Class Coordinating Board after running unopposed.
According to Zhang, CCB is something she has been working on since her freshman year. “It’s really exciting to be … the senior leadership of the group,” she said.
Sandoval, who served as Community Outreach Officer at CCB in past years, said she hopes to create more events that “integrate our Brown community with the wider Providence community” through local businesses and organizations.
In standardizing the elections procedure, the SGA eliminated the previous elections threshold, which required a candidate to receive at least 50% of the vote to officially win the election and not go into a runoff. Starting this year, the candidate receiving the highest percentage of the vote wins the election.
Current UCS Vice President Sam Caplan ’22 described the current policy as more “straightforward, fair and honest.”
Out of 1,556 votes, Steinbrugge edged out current UCS Student Activities Committee Chair Ricky Zhong ’23 by just 24 votes, receiving 34.5% of the total vote. Current UCS Chair of Health and Wellness Emma Amselem Bensadon ’24 received 30.46% of the vote.
Spencer-Blume, receiving 94.48% of the vote, and Sarmas, receiving 92.2% of the vote, won uncontested.
Chopra, who is the current UFB first-year representative, won 63.54% of the total 1,171 votes to defeat current UCS-UFB Liaison Johann Dizon ’24.
Even though she ran uncontested, Spencer-Blume said, “I do not take this for granted. People still voted for me.”
The only referendum voted on by the student body in the elections — the Meatless Monday initiative — was passed with 53% of the vote. The referendum, introduced by the Brown Animal Rights Coalition, proposed that Brown Dining Services join in on the movement that encourages the public to limit its meat consumption every Monday, The Herald previously reported.
The University is not obligated to take action based on a referendum outcome, The Herald previously reported.
Caplan said that he is excited to see a mix of new and returning members among the newly elected UCS leaders, which “brings in new ideas but also maintains institutional knowledge.”
“I hope everyone who ran stays involved,” Caplan said. He added that he hopes that “no matter what the result, people stay committed to their positions.”
Becca Erdenebulgan ’24 was elected president of CCB 2024. Sofia Barnett ’25 was elected as president of CCB 2025.
Within UCS, Daniel Newgarden ’25 was elected Chair of Academic Affairs, and William Borges ’24 will serve as Chair of Student Activities. Ana Boyd ’24 was elected as Chair of Equity and Inclusion, Gaayatri Godbole ’25 will serve as Chair of Campus Life, Ritiika Avarrsekar ’23 will serve as Chair of Health and Wellness and Anaya Kaul ’25 will serve as Treasurer.
Ian Kim ’25, Mikael Obiomah ’25, Richard Shen ’23, Peter Tangikyan ’24, Christopher Wai ’25 and Samuel Walhout ’25 were elected to be at-large UFB representatives.
Additional reporting by Corey Gelb-Bicknell.
Kathy Wang is the senior editor of community of The Brown Daily Herald's 134th Editorial Board. She previously covered student government and international student life as a University News editor. When she's not at The Herald, you can find her watching cooking videos or writing creative nonfiction.
