Student government leaders present visions at inaugural ceremony

Jordan Foster (right) and Samantha Wettasinghe (left) speak during their inauguration ceremony in the Johnson Center (photo by Jenny Krashin).

At the ceremonial inauguration for the incoming student government, Student Body President Jordan Foster and Vice President Samantha Wettasinghe spoke about their visions for the upcoming year.

“So our president has made the Mason IDEA, which is a new framework for how Mason will grow over the next ten years,” Foster said, referring to President Ángel Cabrera’s vision that was released in the spring of 2013. “It’s time [student government] does the same and figure out what is the exact way that we will govern.”

Wettasinghe said that student government would create liaisons with all every college to help better improve life at Mason.

“This year, student government will be opening doors that have not been opened,” Wettasinghe said. “For example, we will be building stronger ties with the Fairfax city government, more intense interaction with the city and county government and student government itself.”

Foster and Wettasinghe ran as a ticket in the Spring 2013 election, and won with 796 votes over write-in candidates Donald Garrett and David Noyes, who received 32 votes.

“Student government is in a better place right now then I’ve seen it in the past three years I’ve been at Mason,” Jordan said at the end of the speech, “and with your help we can make the best year yet.”