By Chandana Mandadi, Phoenix staff writer

Xavier Thompson is the newly elected president of GSU’s Student Senate for the 2024 – 25 school year, and Brett Porter was elected vice president.

The mission of the Student Senate is to promote the general welfare of GovState students through the representation of student concerns, viewpoints, and interests regarding governance issues to the administration, staff, and faculty.

Through this work, the Student Senate will strive to improve the quality of the academic and co-
curricular experience at GSU and provide developmental opportunities for its members.

The election was held on April 4 to fill the student leadership positions. In addition to Thompson and Porter, winners were:

Treasurer: Joshua Tisdale;

Secretary: Eraina Green;

Board of Trustees Student Representative: Harish Rayalapati;

Illinois Board of Higher Education Representative: Faiza Syed;

International Student Representative: Sama Parimala;

College of Arts and Sciences Student Representative: Manuel Paz-Estrada;

College of Business Student Representative: Vilas Jadhav;

College of Health and Human Services Student Representative: Nerxhivane Ramadani;

Lower Division Representative: Lanetta Thomas;

Senators-at-Large Representatives: Imani Jackson, Nancy Cordero, Parthavi Patel, and Kahleem Mathews;

Student Auxiliary Services Representative: Jalyn Woodard;

Student Veterans Representative: Jonathan Cooper.

The position of College of Education and Human Development Student Representative is vacant.

All GSU students are encouraged to present any concerns to the Student Senate. Meetings are open to the public, and all students are encouraged to attend. 

For more information about Student Senate or to reach a senator, please send a message to [email protected].

Anyone interested in serving on the Student Senate please email us at [email protected].  The diversity of the leadership team will bring an array of inspiration and initiative to new student programming and/or the college-wide changes implemented by the Student Senate.