Patrick Love elected as RCSGA president for 2013-2014 year

Patrick Love has been elected president of the Richmond College Student Government Association for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Love, a junior, defeated his opponent, junior Lucas Virnig, in the March 5 election. The election drew 640 total votes from Richmond College students, but the breakdown of these votes is confidential, said outgoing president, senior Evan Harris.

When asked what he hopes to accomplish first, Love spoke about reforming the culture of the student government.

"The first thing that I want to do is create a culture of accountability within Senate and get really passionate kids that want to be part of Senate and want to contribute to Richmond College and to the university," Love said.

As a member of the Richmond track and field team, Love has been critical of the lack of transparency in the administration after the cuts this fall. Improving this lack of transparency and focusing on students' needs are major parts of his platform.

"My two main goals are: number one, increasing the transparency of the administration and having students participating in decision-making processes," Love said, "and number two, taking student concerns and implementing concrete projects and facilitating the change that students want to see."

Despite his loss, Virnig plans to work closely with Love in the Senate.

"One of the things that Pat and I talked about, one of the things that I promised to him, is that no matter which one of us won, I would really like to work specifically with him next year in a cohesive unit," Virnig said.

Virnig also spoke of the importance of focusing on their goals for the coming year and working to ensure that senators running in the next election are informed about what will be expected of them.

Harris also expressed high hopes for Love in his coming term.

"He is going to be able to unite a lot of groups on this campus," Harris said. "I want to see a lot more unity going on and I think he is the right man to get that done."

Contact staff writer Jack Clark at john.s.clark@richmond.edu