March 2022
Congratulations to your new MSP Presidency for 2022-23! President KathrAnn Lee, Vice President Mariana Adamson, Secretary Heidi Pace, Activities Chair Helen Udy, Treasurer Larissa Clason, Social Media Coordinator Jess Green
Elections this year were done anonymously. We had those interested in running answer a few questions and write a paragraph on why they thought they would be great for that position. We then held a blind election, letting our MSP members vote based on those answers given. We had a few positions run unopposed, and had members give a vote of confidence.
This year we had a 3 way tie for President. This has never happened before and required a meeting of the current presidency to discuss the many ways to handle such an event.
Our organization has a charter, "a written grant by a country's legislative or sovereign power, by which a body such as a company, college, or city is founded and its rights and privileges defined." The charter for the Medical Spouse and Partner group was created to be very similar to other RVU clubs and organizations. When the president position was split in a tie, we reached out to other RVU club presidency members and asked what their charter recommends. SGA, RVU's student government says that in the event of a tie, the SGA President is the deciding vote. If for any reason it couldn't be done by the president, Vie Van Noy would be the final decision. We did not feel like that was a fair solution for our group. We deliberated for a good time trying to decide how to press forward. We feel that the blind election is something that is valuable to maintain so that no campaigning can be done. We considered the option of having the applicants provide more information to be voted on by members. But as we considered all of the written questions we could ask and the responses they could provide, we concluded it would be a repeat of the previous blind election because our applicants provided thorough, thoughtful responses.
The final decision came down to the current MSP President interviewing all three candidates about the position and recording their answers. Those three candidates answers were then presented to the rest of the presidency and they blindly voted between the three, not knowing whose answers where whose. The candidate with the most votes within the current presidency (President did not vote) was then revealed by the current President.
Once this process was done, there was still the position of Treasurer to fill when no one applied initially. The position was opened again for applicants and given another deadline.
The whole process is finally over and we would like you to meet your new MSP Presidency for the year 2022-23!