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Michael Kitlas and Jill Long were recently elected Undergraduate Government of Boston College president and vice president by the narrowest victory in UGBC history – just 85 votes.
The dramatic election season included virtual campaigning, traditional residence hall walks, banners in the Quad and a fair share of flash mobs. The UGBC Elections Committee reported a record-setting 3,916 votes were cast, both in person and via myBC, the Student Affairs portal.
The narrowness of their victory has not been lost on the two juniors, who promise to start working as soon as possible to be the voice of all students.
“After the primaries, we were behind by 700 votes so we knew we had a lot of ground to make up and that it would end up close. I think everyone was shocked just how close it became,” said Long.
Kitlas said he and Long are already focused on the year ahead.
“I think everyone who gets into student government does it to help other students. We really want to be the voice of students on campus and work with the administration to make BC into a place that we all really love,” said Kitlas, an economics major with an environmental studies minor from Bernardsville, NJ.
Having served as class president in high school, Kitlas continued his student leadership experience at BC in the Mentoring Leadership Program (MLP), where he met Long. Involved in UGBC since his freshman year, Kitlas said he decided to run for top office “as a way to effect change. There are things that we would like to see improved, and we know that we can make that change happen.”
Long, a sociology major with a African and African diaspora studies minor, calls herself a “global nomad” with many “homes,” including Venezuela, but most recently Atlanta. Prior to arriving at BC, she had little student leadership experience other than organizing a homecoming dance as part of her responsibilities as a varsity cheerleader in high school.
“I saw a booth at Student Activities Day my freshman year with the MLP group and thought that would be a way to get involved,” said Long, who worked her way up to chief advisor of the UGBC Community Relations department.
Among the major issues Kitlas and Long plan to tackle are the continuation of academic advising improvements and establishment of an ethnic studies major. Another top priority item is to revamp the UGBC website.
“One of our platform pillars of the campaign was better accessibility. We see the website as a way to give students better access to programming and news,” said Kitlas. “We’re also going to start posting meeting minutes to help student become more up to date on what’s going on.”
Kitlas and Long also want UGBC to address the problem of underage drinking.
“We want to take on the drinking culture on campus,” said Kitlas. “We want to put our efforts behind programs that offer students alternatives to drinking. I think that’s something many people want to get behind.”
With a strong background in programming for UGBC and MLP, Kitlas said he believes increasing activities is how best to curb substance abuse on campus. One of the student leaders who help to organize the popular “Ice Jam” event this academic year, Kitlas said students will participate in programming if it is exciting and inclusive.
“The larger issue is to build a sense of school pride that extends beyond football season,” said Long. “We’re interested in starting a ‘Maroon and Gold Week’ and establishing programs and pre-events before major campus events that encourage good behavior.”
Long said that UGBC will establish a director of alcohol awareness position that focuses exclusively on promoting responsible behavior and alternatives to drinking.
“We want to establish a ‘Rethink Drink Week’ that will start when the freshman arrive on campus to show UGBC is focused on this important issue,” said Long.
Having run on the slogan “Building Community Through Programming, Outreach, Accessibility, and Formation," Kitlas and Long said they believe student voters embraced their new ideas — and now the two are ready to put them into action.
“We have a lot of work to do. The outcome is still surreal to me,” said Kitlas. “It was an incredibly close election and we’re just really looking forward to hit the ground running.”