Olivia Hussey, MCAS ’17, and Meredith McCaffrey, MCAS ’17, announced that they dropped out of the presidential election for the Undergraduate Government of Boston College on Saturday evening. Hussey is currently the executive vice president of UGBC.
“Meredith and I are deeply saddened to announce our withdrawal from the upcoming UGBC Election,” Hussey said in an email. “However, due to some unforeseen personal matters, I have made the decision, in consultation with Meredith, my family, friends, and campaign team, to discontinue our efforts before campaign kick-off, which was supposed to happen Sunday.”
Their announcement came just five days after Elizabeth Foley, MCAS ’17, and Joseph McCarthy, CSOM ’17, announced that they were also dropping out of the race. Anthony Perasso, LSOE ’17, and Rachel Loos, MCAS ’18, are now the only remaining team.
The Elections Committee sent an email saying that the Campaign Kickoff will no longer be on Feb. 21.
“The elections committee has decided to postpone both [presidential] as well as student assembly elections,” Adam Rosenbloom, MCAS ’16 and elections committee co-chair, said. “We are currently working on this for that. We are working as a committee right now to finalize our updates and we will let everyone know sometime this week on how we are going to move forward.”
Two years ago there was a similar situation in which a team went unopposed. They were offered the positions, but they chose to allow an opponent to join the race. This, however, is a different situation, Rosenbloom said.
Hussey will continue in her role as executive vice president until the end of her term.
“We have been so inspired and humbled by the passion and energy of our team and all BC students we’ve interacted with over the past few weeks, and hope that the momentum to address the issues affecting students does not end with our withdrawal,” Hussey said in an email. “We urge all students to continue to engage with both the elections and the issues going forward, as it is imperative for creating a better BC. We are so grateful to BC and everyone who has supported us for this incredibly opportunity.”
Perasso believes that it is important to still have a campaign and an election. He hopes the Elections Committee will allow another team to run.
“We don’t want it to be a monarch silently handing over the crown,” he said. “There is zero part of me that wants to win unopposed.”
This article has been updated.
Featured Image by Drew Hoo / Heights Editor
