Lincoln Center Elects Thermadam and Stryczek in Vote for a ‘Status Quo’ USG
ZOEY LIU/THE OBSERVER
Tina Thermadam, FCLC ’20, will be USG’s next president. Robert Stryczek, GSB ’21, will be the next vice president.
April 3, 2019
Tina Thermadam, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’20, has won the United Student Government (USG) presidential election, defeating Austin Tong, Gabelli School of Business (GSB) ’21, in a race that wrestled with the very structure of student government.
Robert Stryczek, GSB ’21, was elected as vice president, marking a victory for two insider candidates who were met with criticism from opponents who questioned their responsibility. Stryczek defeated Ellen Song, FCLC ’21, who ran on a seemingly identical platform as Tong to dismantle USG and build it from the ground up.
Thermadam campaigned on refining USG instead of revolutionizing it. Her promise to improve the “status quo” appeared to voters as a much more measured approach than her opponent’s.
Thermadam prioritized increasing club retention through what she repeatedly referred to as “streamlined communication” between USG and club leaders. She ran on improving interfaith resources, loosening guest policies for residents and commuters, and keeping Fordham Fridays, a weekly event promoting school apparel and free pizza.
At the vice presidential debate, Stryczek stressed his commitment to assisting the president and making the Fordham Lincoln Center community an enjoyable one.
Among the other elected positions are Brielle Intorcia, FCLC ’20, who has been elected secretary; Loreen Ruiz, FCLC ’21, who has been elected chair of student affairs; and Joseph Moyer, FCLC ’22, who will serve as treasurer. Class senators include Sophomore Senator Joseph VanGostein, GSB ’22, Junior Senator Kirsten Murphy, FCLC ’21, and Senior Senator Anastasia Gomez, FCLC ’20.
In an unprecedented move, Thermadam sent out mass emails to students throughout the Fordham Lincoln Center community, a tactic that helped inform large numbers of potential voters about her platform. Tong utilized his Instagram page, which has over 10,000 followers, to post campaign messages.
Song and Tong both remain in high spirits despite their defeats in the election. Song congratulated the winners on their victories, saying that she is “looking forward” to seeing their contributions to Fordham and wishes them good luck. Tong, meanwhile, is confident that USG will continue to thrive under the guidance of Thermadam and Stryczek. “Tina and Robert are tremendous people and will serve the organization well,” he said. “I wish them the best of luck and I am happy for them.
“More time to make money for me,” Tong added.
As for Stryczek, he said that “Ellen ran a great campaign and I hope that she will still be in USG next year.” He also expressed excitement and hopefulness at “filling Katina Smith’s shoes,” saying, “I have a bunch in store for adding to Fordham’s spirit and I can’t wait for everyone to see it next year.”
This article will be updated.
Kelly • Apr 3, 2019 at 11:14 pm
@Ryan, if you’re going to make a comment like this, please at least spell the candidate’s name correctly. In addition, if destroying and reconstructing USG from the ground up seems “realistic” or “practical” to you, you’ve clearly never worked with Fordham administration. The concept of having a president nominate all E-Board positions is so wildly undemocratic that it’s offensive. It’s no surprise that our campus elected the candidate that reflected our needs and wants.
Much of Austin’s rhetoric in this campaign has been grating to me and others, and at the debate, he could hardly answer a single question fully in the allotted time. The fact that he previously held office and resigned because he couldn’t handle the time and work commitments required certainly didn’t work in his favor. I don’t think that Austin would have somehow been able to ruin USG or LC had he been elected, but it saves me a lot of worrying to know that now it’s not even a possibility.
Ryan • Apr 3, 2019 at 3:31 pm
I feel this was debate very one sided. What I mean by this is that a lot more of Thermadan’s friends were in the audience and were some very rude questions to Austin, some not even questions at all, but just snobby remarks. Thermadan, I think did a good job speaking but her tactics and goals all sounded like they were read out of script to satisfy the obviously large population of the left wing on campus and in the audience, as well as the judge panel. I think it was also very one sided because, for example, when I was watching the Debate online I noticed that a lot of the angles and zooming was very unprofessional for Austin, but centered more straight and upright when Thermadan was speaking throughout the debate.
I feel like Austin had a more realistic plan that could really change the speed of things for the University, while Thermadan’s ideas were more about keeping structures and ideas that already aren’t work and trying to improve them. Both can be great, but I feel that Austin’s was more practical. I just wanted to make this comment because I feel that having your friends in the audience and having rude people from the audience not even with questions, but just getting up to the mic to say nasty stuff to the candidate (Austin) was a disgrace to see. I mean even when I was 5 mins into watching the debate online I knew she would be picked because her ideas were more liberal and matched the judges and obviously liberal audience. I just think its an injustice at how the audience had this passive aggressive mood towards him because he was not as liberal and had actual realistic ideas. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I also feel that it was ironic that students wanted free women products in the bathrooms on campus, but found the idea of having free condoms in the campus bathrooms to be outrageous.
Overall, I think it would be better if they could monitor who the audiences questioning to real questions, so that people like that crazy girl who was like “YOU DID THIS AND YOU BLEW IT” who have no manners can be filtered out from the people who have actual questions. Sorry, but it’s true!