Noor Ul Haash Khamisani, a senior English major, has been named Eastern’s Student Body President after her opponent, Justin Richards, a senior digital technology major, conceded the position of president to Khamisani and accepted the position of Vice President of Academic Affairs.

The unofficial results of the 2020 Student Government elections named Khamisani the winner of the election but were then contested by Richards.

The Student Government Elections Commission, consisting of Election Commissioner Seth Yeakel with the advising of Director of Student Life Ceci Brinker, who also serves as Student Government advisor, then determined Khamisani violated election guidelines and made a 25 percent deduction from Khaminsani’s total unofficial votes.

Khamisani’s votes were then taken from 195 votes to 147 votes, leaving Richards the winner with his 178 votes.

Khamisani appealed the Elections Commission ruling and Eastern Vice President of Student Affairs Anne Flaherty determined a new election would be necessary due to the absence of a Student Supreme Court, an Elections Commission consisting of only one student and no prevailing guidelines for resultant sanctions.

According to the appeal judgement, Flaherty offered candidates the option to do a coin toss to determine the winner if both parties agreed. Richards accepted the offer and Khamisani declined.

The loser of the toss would have been named Student Government Vice President of Academic Affairs, a position that was left empty after no student ran for it.

Following a discussion, Richards conceded to Khamisani as to not hold another election solely for the position of Student Body President and accepted the student VPAA position.

According to the Student Government Constitution the policy for filling vacant Student Body Executive Office seat is:

“In the case of a vacancy in any Student Body Executive Office other than the Student Body President, the President shall fill said vacancy by appointment, subject to approval by a two-thirds majority vote by the Senate. This appointment will be temporary.”

On the results of the appeal, Richards said he was disappointed but plans to move forward in his new position.

“Obviously I was a bit disappointed because I do feel like I could have done the job of president very well but in the end it basically had to come down to we need to move forward and we really need to do what’s best for the students at EIU and if it meant me taking the VPAA position, then so be it,” Richards said. “I might not fully agree with the fact that the guidelines were kind of set aside but I’m still going to do my job, I’m going to still represent the students to the best of my ability and I’m going to work just as hard in this position as I would have as president and as I have as a student senator.”

“I might not be happy that that’s what it came down to but regardless we’re doing this for the students, and we need to do what’s right.”

Richards said he is looking forward to seeing what he can do as student Vice President of Academic Affairs.

“I’m not going to lie, there are still some parts of it that are unknown to me because I still need to go through my orientation for the position, but getting to be a voice not only for (the Council on Academic Affairs) and Faculty Senate as a student representative and working with the student deans and just being able to connect with more students on personal levels because I genuinely feel we need to invest more of Student Government’s time into our students, into our RSOs and such and we really need reconnect,” Richards said. “We can’t afford to just be student government and the whole student body. We need to be one in the same.”

Richards said he is confident that Khamisani will be successful in her new role.

“I have nothing but love and respect for Miss Khamisani and I know she’ll do a great job and I’m ready to get started,” Richards said.

Khamisani said that, despite the uncertainty of the last few weeks, she is happy to assume her role.

“Although the past couple of weeks have been very stressful and energy sucking, I am very glad to see the results of my appeal,” she said. “I am happier and more excited than words could ever describe not because I got the presidency, but because Justin Richards and I will get to work as a team for our EIU Panthers. He is a great leader with great ideas and great potential, and now he is on my team.”

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or cebrock@eiu.edu.