By Charlie Cronk
Winston Zapet Bamac (‘27) and Archie Kerr (‘27) have been elected President and Vice President of the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS), respectively. Polls closed on Feb. 28. This is the first election since before the COVID pandemic in which multiple candidates campaigned for the executive office; Zapet Bamac and Kerr bested their opponents, Sofia Calcagno (‘26) and Chessie Bolt (‘27). “It is with great honor and humility that we celebrate our coming administration,” Kerr told The Trail. “The Student Body has placed a great deal of trust in us that we will not take for granted.”
Zapet Bamac and Kerr ran a campaign focused on increasing communication between ASUPS and students. Zapet Bamac told The Trail, “I really want everyone to at least have two or three things that they know for sure ASUPS does, or ASUPS did. I think that’s one of my overall goals, just increasing the visibility of ASUPS.” Additionally, they want to strengthen ASUPS’s ability to represent students. Kerr said they have two main goals. “One of them is to simply increase the strong connection between ASUPS and the student body. The current administration has been excellent at doing that, and so we’re just going to keep building on that work. The second part of our goal is to increase the student voice in the decisions that are made at the University level. There were several decisions that were made this year without consulting the students, and we feel that’s unacceptable, and so it is our goal to fix that.” Zapet Bamac agreed; “I really want to emphasize that I want to talk, even if it’s uncomfortable, even if somebody is really upset and frustrated with me.”
Zapet Bamac and Kerr have spent much of their time campaigning getting ready for their presidency. Kerr explained, “We talk every day about new programs and ideas we have. We have a full list of events and new programs we’d like to host as the student government.” They plan to expand the power of the Senate. “The Senate so far has really only been the body that approves clubs and approves use of the budget. But in my opinion, they could be doing much more. They could be making new policies for the students, improving the student experience. And since the Vice President sits on the Senate and votes on the Senate, I would like to be part of formulating those new policies.” Zapet Bamac and Kerr also want to allow students to start more clubs on campus. Zapet Bamac told The Trail, “I want students to be motivated and to be ambitious and to be able to pursue either their own goals in starting a club or in inheriting a club.”
Zapet Bamac and Kerr have also been looking towards ASUPS’s past to get ideas on what they could do for their presidency. Zapet Bamac explained, “ASUPS used to do an event called Town Hall Tuesdays. I think trying to have more frequent spaces available in which students can just drop in and know that they can just say what they want and be heard, and actually have conversations with the people who are going to make the decisions or make changes, is really impactful.”
Over 570 students voted in the election, or around 30.5% of the student body. Last year, only 470 students voted. ASUPS President Kevoni Neely (‘25) attributes the increase to the work her administration has put in. “This upward trend reflects the dedication of my executive team in expanding ASUPS visibility and increasing student engagement across campus,” she said over email. She noted that voter participation is still well below pre-COVID pandemic participation levels. “The 2019 spring election saw 1,267 voters highlighting the potential for even greater student involvement in future elections,” she added.
Sarah Comstock, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, said that student body engagement with ASUPS has been a challenge for a long time. “Trying to get more students involved in Senate seats, on our court, in the executive positions; that has been a consistent conversation the last seven to eight years. Getting more students involved in clubs is maybe a little bit new,” she explained. “I think that ASUPS, as the associated students’ group, is incredibly important. They wield a lot of power in their voice, but they also oversee quite a bit of money, and they represent you,” Comstock added.
The Calcagno-Bolt campaign faced challenges when some of its posters were ripped down or vandalized. At the time, Bolt encouraged students to engage with their campaign. “I would urge anyone who has questions, comments, or concerns, to reach out, DM me, email me. Sofia and I are very open to answering questions,” she said. She added, “I really appreciate my fellow candidates Winston and Archie posting and saying something about that. It’s a threat to the democracy of the elections and the integrity of it.” Zapet Bamac and Kerr both posted a message on Instagram condemning the poster removals. “I’m disappointed,” Kerr said. “Winston and I, and Sofia and Chessie are all doing our very best to run respectful, clean campaigns. We have nothing personal against each other at all, and so the defacement of Sofia and Chessie’s posters really just injured the validity of our campaigns.”
Although the presidential election saw more engagement than ASUPS elections historically have, the same was not true for the Senate races. All Senate races had either one uncontested candidate or no candidates at all. “Elections should not go uncontested,” said Josh Ludski-Lee (‘27), an ASUPS Senator at Large. “While I’m pleased that there has been more participation than in past years, there’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of getting students involved in student government,” he added. Despite the lack of competition, the races were able to fill all ASUPS Senate positions, something that has not happened since before the pandemic era. “This marks an important step forward in strengthening student representation,” Neely said.