Thunderous applause filled the Thousand Oaks room Thursday night as Beverly Ntagu and Rose Merida of Matador Movement were announced as the new heads of administration for the upcoming academic year.
After months of fierce campaigns, debate and outreach, this year’s A.S. elections concluded with the reveal party of the new president and vice president for the 2018-2019 administrative term.
“I don’t have any words, I’m ecstatic and speechless,” Ntagu said after the results were announced. “Me and Rose [will] go with what were campaigning with, stay true to our words and make things happen to the best of our abilities for the students.”
Merida, ecstatic at the results, shared her plan to change the name of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) Center to Differing Abilities.
“Honestly I am really blessed and happy,” Merida said. “I’m so excited to see what Beverly and I can do for the students, especially the name change I want to see with the DRES Center.”
Jonathan Goldenberg, the current A.S. president, said he was happy with the results of the reveal, saying he was excited for both Ntagu and Merida and what they have to bring to CSUN next year. He says that both candidates can bring knowledge of the university into their administrative term.
“I think they have broad-based experience,” Goldenberg said. “From all the clubs and organizations that they’ve been a part of to all the different parts of Associated Students they’ve dabbled in, I think that they can bring a lot of institutional knowledge that will serve them really well.”
Overwhelmed with joy, both candidates shared their thoughts on the election’s outcome.
“I think I won because people believed in me,” Ntagu said. People saw that I had more to give than I was giving in the USU.”
Vice president-elect Merida added her thoughts, saying “We did this the right way, we did this the clean way, we made sure that students were involved. I think we won because the students want a group of individuals who would ensure that their voices are heard.”
For the candidates of the coming year, Goldenberg offered his advice from his experiences as president of the current administrative term.
“Some days are really tough. Some days are gonna be really long,” Goldenberg said. “But you have to think of a random student that is just walking down the hall and think that if you are making a decision that’s gonna make them happy, then that’s the most important thing.”
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