Boston University Student Government Senate approved Akiko Endo and Yasmin Gentry as the new vice president of finance and VP of internal affairs, respectively, Wednesday through online voting. Senators voted unanimously in support of the appointment, Vice Senate Chair Daniel Collins said.
Twenty-nine votes confirmed Endo and Gentry’s appointment and passed the constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority vote within the voting time Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening, Collins, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote in an email.
SG President Andrew Cho proposed the names of the new vice presidents Tuesday to fill E-board vacancies following the removal from office of former VP of Finance Kimberly Barzola and VP of Internal Affairs Marwa Sayed.
“I am confident in [Endo and Gentry’s] dedication to SG and am thrilled to work with them in this capacity,” Cho wrote on the SG Facebook page. “They will always have the best of the student body in mind.”
Cho, a senior in CAS, said both nominees have been with SG for a long time and have shown their ability and sense of responsibility.
“[Endo] has been my campaign manager and chief of staff and I believe she can get things done,” Cho said. “[Gentry] will make sure transparency is taken care of and we will communicate with all different branches.”
Senate also voted to approve funding for care package and tutoring in the dorms proposals with 26 votes in favor of the initiative and three abstentions, Collins added.
“The emergency [online] vote is a precedent and has been enacted due to time constraints,” Collins said. “Voting is on a Google [document] for the whole student body to see. Last time it happened was fall of 2014 when Tyler Fields was [Senate] chair.”
Endo, a junior in CAS and former SG chief of staff, said she knew the circumstances of her appointment are not ideal, but hopes to improve SG and its relationship with the student body.
“The biggest thing we need to improve is transparency and make sure everyone is on the same page,” Endo said. “There is obviously more to improve, but [transparency] is the first and biggest issue we need to tackle.”
Gentry, a senior in the College of Communication, said she served as the Senate communications co-director until she resigned on Nov. 6 due to disagreements with former Senate Chair Stephen Chang.
“It’s not like I really left SG. It’s that I left the position [as Senate communications co-director],” Gentry said. “There’s really just a lot of animosity in general, so I’m hoping to help the SG sort of work through that.”
Amanda Kaufman contributed reporting.
