By: Hayden Kobza
Editor-in-Chief
Jeaneva Bautista, senior accounting major, waited calmly for the Student Association (SA) cabinet around her to receive the news she had already known for over a week. Moments into a special SA meeting, John Hargy announced his resignation as SA president due to the completion of his biophysics degree. Bautista, formerly the vice president, would be taking his place.
According to Dennis Negrón, vice president of Student Development, Hargy can no longer work for SA because he is not taking any credits this semester.
“SA officers must be members of the general assembly of Southern, more easily interpreted as the student body,” stated Negrón in an email to the Accent. “But the general assembly, as defined by our constitution and by-laws, is defined as all full-time students—those taking 12 hours or more. John was not taking any hours this semester, so I couldn’t make an exception.”
In a text correspondence with the Accent, Hargy explained the reasoning for his resignation, citing that when he originally ran for the presidency, he did not know he would no longer be able to take classes this semester.
“I completed my degree earlier than expected at the conclusion of the fall semester, which resulted in a change to my enrollment status,” Hargy stated. “At the beginning of the academic year, my enrollment and financial aid were confirmed for the full year, and I accepted the Student Association presidency in good faith with the expectation that I was enrolled through the spring semester. The exact timing of my degree completion was not fully clear until the end of the fall term.”
Hargy, now an alumnus, shared his plans for the future, with graduate school applications at the top of his to-do list—along with traveling.
As senior advisor of SA, Negrón worked closely with Hargy during his presidency.
“John, in the most positive sense of the idea, is hyper-focused on his goals, and he approached being president in that manner,” Negrón stated. “But what was so enjoyable about working with John is that he connected so well with his whole team.”
Third Female President in Over 30 Years
Sitting in her new office last Thursday, Bautista expressed optimism about her position. She had known Hargy would be stepping down since the first week of school, and now she felt prepared to assume the presidency. In an interview with the Accent, Bautista said that initially, she was not sure if she could do justice to the role while taking two senior capstones and a 14-credit load. However, she felt the need to give back.
“I saw it as an opportunity, and I also felt bad for the team as someone who has been in SA for three years,” Bautista said. “I felt that [I] would have let some people down if I didn’t.”
Now that she is in office, Bautista reflected on what it means to lead Southern’s student body as a woman, which only two other individuals have done since Negrón has been at Southern. Those two are Sheryl Kambuni, approximately six years ago, and Windy Cockrell, in the early ’90s, according to Negrón.
The first female president was Gale Jones Murphy who served in 1974 to 1975, according to a previous Accent article.
Bautista said it was “shocking” that so few women had been president in recent years.
“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of women being leaders,” Bautista said. “[However], I’ve never really seen those leaders want to have a presidential role, me included, since I ran for VP instead.”
As she grew up, Bautista said that her mother demonstrated how women can be powerful leaders. She attributed the lack of women applying for SA president to the fear of standing up to a system mainly controlled by the opposite gender.
“It’s the fear of having to go against not only the men, but the culture behind it…the stereotype that a lady might not be able to lead,” Bautista said. “…But I believe once you start showing female leaders that things can be possible, I think hopefully by this time next year, [a woman] would try and step up into that role, into the presidential role.”
Natalie Shelburne, a freshman elementary education major, said in an interview with the Accent that she wants to see more women in student leadership.
“I think we definitely need more [women],” Shelburne said. “…So that’s great for her, and I think it’ll hopefully show an impact on the community of Southern.”
Carlos Peguero, freshman theology major, shared similar sentiments.
“I think it’s fascinating,” Peguero said. “I think it’s history. If we look at it, a lot of people are going to be really excited about this, because we haven’t had a female president in a while, so I think it’s pretty cool.”
What lies ahead
Bautista is familiar with being asked to step into unexpected roles. When she was a freshman, she was selected as a senator; however, Bautista did not accept the position due to personal reasons. After she switched from political science to accounting at the end of her freshman year, Bautista applied for SA finance director (now titled payroll manager) and got the job but didn’t realize at first that the position was for two years. Then, the vice president stepped down her sophomore year, so she took on that position.
“It gave me a better understanding of Student Association, and it made me love it,” Bautista said.
She said would have regretted it if she had not taken the opportunity to run for vice president of SA.
“I had this goal, back when I was a freshman, when I rejected the offer of being a senator due to personal complications, that one day I wanted to either be the president or the vice president,” she said.
While Bautista cannot reveal all of her plans for the semester before they are confirmed, she said in an interview that she will try to maintain a majority of Hargy’s initiatives.
“[I am] wishing for support, especially because this is something that we didn’t really expect,” Bautista said, “but hopefully I could also bring the same results that John was able to [achieve] the first semester and continue not only my legacy, but his legacy.”
