Donald Keough, News Editor–

As the academic year comes to a close, so has this semester’s Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA) spring election.

Norah Carter ‘26 was elected president, while Anna Ragazzoni Xavier Batista ‘26 was elected vice president by student votes during polling on April 17-18.

Both led separate, successful campaigns despite being abroad, and both have had extensive experience in DCGA. Carter attributed her success to her peers, and said that she “couldn’t have done it without them.”

Carter will replace Noah Chartier ‘25, the outgoing president. Chartier is looking forward to the changes Carter will bring. 

“I’m looking forward to seeing the transition of DCGA from this period of internal structural revision strengthening to a more external, ‘Let’s go out and make change on this campus,’” Chartier said. “I am an internal structure thinker and that’s where a lot of my focus has been.”

He also noted that he’s excited to see that the incoming president’s goals are much more outward facing. 

“I’m really happy with what’s happened this year in my presidency, but I really look forward to seeing folks in the coming years find roles that excite them and make campus better for everyone,” Chartier said.

Carter’s first position in DCGA was when she was a first-year. She joined after forming the Denison Disability Advocacy Association (DDAA), serving as the DDAA’s senator, who is represented in DCGA. She also served as the South Quad chair for the Residential Life Committee, and was the Chief of Staff last semester. 

“I certainly don’t take the position lightly, but if you would have asked me when I first joined DCGA, I would have never told you I could be president,” Carter said.

Looking into next semester, one of the challenges Carter and DCGA will have to tackle is insufficient funds for student organizations. In recent years, DCGA has typically allocated around $800,000 given by the university, and if this wasn’t enough, a reserve fund would be used. This reserve fund is on the brink of running out, however, as demand for funding has increased steadily. In the spring, DCGA overallocated roughly $150,000 in funds, which will be taken out of the dwindling reserve fund. These over allocated funds also come after $500,000 in requested funds from organizations were denied or slashed. 

“We keep having to cut things like concerts and budgets of organizations that are succeeding and deserve to get money,” Carter said. “It’s very difficult to get everybody funding.”

This fall, DCGA will have the opportunity to request an increase in funding for student organizations. Outgoing president Chartier believes that receiving more funds will be crucial. 

“This is the first one that actually matters in a major way, because this will be the first [year] that we won’t have the reserve fund to fall back on,” Chartier said.

If more funding is provided by the university, capital projects through DCGA will also become a possibility again, and certain campus-wide events will be less limited. Usually a concert is hosted once a semester, but this year the concerts were combined into one to cut costs.

“This coming year’s budget increase request is really, really important,” Chartier said. “I really want the leadership next year to make this a campus wide effort– to give every club [enough] money.”

Carter hopes to increase funding during her term, saying that it’s something she “really wants to push for in the upcoming year.” 

“I will do my absolute best to adapt and deeply consider the strategy for getting it done,” Carter said. “I think that if [whoever] is in charge of budgeting can sit down with organizations who say, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on,’ maybe that can make a stronger case for increasing the budget. I think hearing it directly from people could be something that could push the budget increase that I know we’re all looking for, and all student organizations need.” 

As president, Carter also hopes to continue pushing for policies which will make the campus more accessible. One of Carter’s ideas is to form a campus shuttle. Currently, Denison offers a safe ride service for students who need transportation, but in some cases this service is limited. During the day, most rides are provided by campus safety workers, and time conflicts can arise due to their additional responsibilities. In addition to accessibility, Carter is also a proponent of student expression and participation in social demonstrations. She hopes to help make student concerns brought to administration seem like less of a “nuisance” and seen more as “real issues that students are bringing up.” 

“[When] a student protest or a group of students get together to try to enact change, I want to support that, and bring that directly to the administration and get them on the same page,” Carter said.

In addition to accessibility policies, Carter hopes to continue DCGA’s previous work of altering the recently revamped protest policy to better support students, as recent changes to the policy faced criticism. Chartier was one of those who worked closely to push for changes to the current policy. Although the administration prevented any alterations to be made to the policy for this year, DCGA has presented a list of recommendations to be considered over the summer.

“I worked with my executive board to get a team set… and they took so much time and energy to talk to every student group that would respond to them, who did advocacy and protesting on campus, get all of their thoughts, all of their insights,” Chartier said. 

In addition, through some executive negotiating on Chartier’s side, students will be included in the summer committee that will review the protest policy. Carter also hopes to increase student involvement in other campus-wide changes alongside protest policy changes. Although some students were able to submit feedback in this case, she noted the recent example of student housing changes, such as the creation of the first-year quad, of where she believes student voices could be better heard. 

“I want to make sure that there’s heavy student input on decisions,” Carter said. 

Another issue that Carter hopes student input can be included in is DEI changes that many schools are facing throughout the country. 

“I trust that Denison does want to continue to have a strong academic curriculum that talks about diverse perspectives and issues, and equity and accessibility.” Carter said. “But they can’t do that alone, and they need to know the opinions of the groups that it most affects.”

In addition to amplifying student voices, Carter hopes to push for more transparency from the administration in terms of where students’ tuition goes. 

“Transparency was something big I ran on,” Carter said. “A lot of organizations on campus have brought up that we need to know what Denison is investing in.”

With all of the change and hopes for the upcoming semesters as president, Carter reflects back on her journey to the position with a sense of accomplishment.

“I originally joined DCGA because I’m passionate about advocating for accessibility on campus, so it feels like finally I’m at the level where I have direct access to the people that I’m trying to reach to focus more on… I think I’m the type of person that handles conflict well. I’m really happy I won, because I think that’s the direction DCGA currently needs to go.”

She also emphasized that she hopes to express the student body’s voice, through any form of feedback.

“I’m open to any criticism from the student body,” Carter said. “I want to have a good relationship with them, and I don’t just want this for me. I want to do this for everybody. I encourage people to reach out to me, my email is available. I’m just another student.”