By Mary Whitfill, editor-in-chief 

By a narrow margin of just 50 votes, the IgniteNU platform, spearheaded by Eric Tyler and Morgan Helfman, won the Student Government Association’s (SGA) direct elections, putting the pair at the helm of SGA. Tyler, a junior information science and business dual major, will serve as student body president and Helfman, sophomore political science and sociology major, as executive vice president.

“I’ve really seen tremendous progress over the past two years,” Tyler told The News. “Both Nick [Naraghi] and Noah [Carville] have done a tremendous job in engaging students and the administration and creating a conversation and dialogue between both sides. I want to continue that.”

The duo edged out John Finn, third-year finance and accounting major, and Neel Desai, sophomore economics major, who ran the EngageNU platform. EngageNU pulled in 1,838 votes and the winning pair had 1,888.

Of the over 4,500 students who voted, 838 voted “no confidence.” 25.18 percent of the undergraduate student body cast a vote.

The direct elections also included three referenda questions, listed below, all of which were approved by wide margins.

The first referenda asked if all campus employees – excluding work study students, who are paid federally – should be paid $15 per hour or the salary equivalent.

The second read: “Do you want a resource center on campus focused on addressing gender issues, including discrimination, sexual assault and domestic violence, that would provide a safe, physical space for collaboration, survivor resources, student organization meetings, workshops and campus outreach and education?”

The final referenda was:  “Should Northeastern convert all single-stall use bathrooms to be accessible to all gender neutral students?”

Photo by Scotty Schenck.