Will Mount was elected president of the Residence Hall Association with 54.7 percent of the vote, and executive positions went to other members of his joint ticket, its board of elections announced Thursday.
Cynthia Purekal was elected vice president of programming, Michelle Reich won vice president of administration and finance, and Adam Poulemanos will be vice president of advocacy and community coordination.
Mount said he plans to have pizza nights on both north and south sides, and wants to set up a north-side entertainment center. A DVD rental kiosk is also in the works, he said.
Mount said he hopes to work with the Student Confederation to bring more diversity to both organizations. Mount said he plans to form a diversity caucus that includes members of campus ethnic and other groups.
"I think there is a problem with diversity on this campus in general," said Mount, who said he chose AU for its reputation as a diverse campus. "I don't think it was as diverse as I had hoped."
The presidential win also represents a personal victory for Mount.
"A year and a half ago, I was getting impeached from the General Assembly [the legislative branch of the SC], so I've come a long way," he said.
A total of 537 students voted, a turnout that outgoing President Scott Goldstein said was "amazing considering only one of the positions was contested."
Jason Hesch ran against Mount for the presidency.
Last year the turnout was around 500, he said, but those figures were skewed because some people admitted to voting more than 50 times.
"There was so much fraud you can't use [the figure] to compare," Goldstein said.
Last year ballots were mailed to residents and ballot boxes were unsupervised. This year RHA members took votes at tables in the lobbies of residence halls on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Goldstein attributes the increased turnout to RHA's "increased presence on campus."
"Many people have told me they thought Mr. American was the best event on campus this year," he said, referring to the pageant competition held last week.
"We had the Diplomatic Ball, Singled Out, Phil Bender. We have done a lot of advocacy," Goldstein said. "Overall people just know us better than they did last year."
Goldstein offered advice for Mount, who will assume the presidency at transition on April 16.
"Keep RHA present on campus, always seek student opinion and represent them to the administration," he said. "Get to know people in the university well, it will help in putting together programs and in advocating them.
"Lastly, give the students their money's worth and an organization that they want to be a part of"
