UVUSA Elections: Breaking the Glass Ceiling

A female student body president has been elected to the Utah Valley University Student Association (UVUSA) executive council for the first time since the 90s.

The last female student body president leading the UVUSA was Terry Ann Harward in 95-96. Twenty-five years later, sophomore art and design major, Danielle Corbett, won the election unopposed on Feb 26 with 831 votes.

In a generally male-dominated arena, Corbett succeeded in breaking the barrier to land her new role.

“A huge reason I decided to run was actually the fact that I felt like I didn’t belong in this particular position, one huge reason being the societal conditioning surrounding females in positions of leadership.”

Corbett said she hoped that her winning as an atypical candidate will allow people to realize that what makes them different can become their superpower. 

Goals

Following current student body president Taylor Bell, Corbett has plans to keep working on changes Bell initiated, such as UVU mental health resources. Her election platform said she believed that advertising the resources students have may alleviate different stresses, UVU can help students, faculty, and staff foster positive mental health practices.

“That being said, I can’t ever be the next Taylor Bell, I can only be the first Danielle Corbett!”

A big thing Corbett said she hoped to achieve was showing people that they belong in whatever position, career, or major they choose.

Due to the low number of candidates this election cycle, Corbett and her team said they are looking to get more students to run for office next year.

“I only have one year in this spot, but you can bet that I will be trying to find people who can replace me when I am gone.

Bjorn Engebretsen and Marisa Crist won unopposed for Executive Vice President and Vice President of Activities respectively. The Vice President of Academic Senate, the one position with competition, went to Lucy Watson with 417 votes.

Voter Turnout

Only 1,028 ballots out of 28,074 eligible voters were cast for a percentage of 3.6 student voters. 

“Student voters are often jaded with the campus election process during national election years due to the amount of general voter propaganda and feelings that voters don’t make a difference,” said Bell. “With that being said, we have seen the impact of votes in local and UVUSA elections and I encourage students to get involved in future years by running for office and voting.”