Students have spoken and selected Sundeep Mutgi and Kevin Basch as President and Vice President of Undergraduate Student Government for the 2009-2010 academic year. With over 2,000 students voting and receiving 58.9 percent of the votes, Mutgi and Basch said they are thrilled to be in the positions of president and vice president for next year. ‘I’m trying to collect my nerves but I’m very excited right now,’ Basch said. ‘I’ve got to text my parents and give them the good news.’ In order to get ready for next year, Mutgi said his first goal is organizing the senate within USG. ‘First off, I want to make the senate a cohesive unit and get to know the new team,’ he said. Basch said his main priority is communicating with students and making them comfortable talking to USG members. ‘I want students to feel free in approaching me if they have a problem because I love talking to students and hearing their concerns,’ Basch said. More students voted in this year’s USG election than last year’s – which turned out 1,008 votes, USG Chief Administrator Brandon Sallad said. Many USG members attributed the increase in USG student interest to the hype of the Stroh Center. ‘In my four years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen students so interested and I’m very proud,’ Sallad said. USG Vice President elect Basch agreed. ‘Although I may have my disagreements about the Coalition for USG Reform, I respect all that they have done in getting students involved and interested,’ Basch said. He also said he hopes this will make students next year continue that hands-on involvement. ‘I’d rather someone come up to me and say something than nothing at all,’ Basch said. Chief of Staff Nicole Fratianne, who is also Mutgi’s girlfriend, said she is excited for the newly elected team as well. ‘I think they’ve put together a clean campaign and have worked very hard, especially after the Stroh debacle,’ Fratianne said. ‘I have no doubt the students have elected the right two for the job.’ And even though Rob Emmelhainz and his running mate Enoch Wu didn’t win the race, Wu said he has no regrets. ‘We have done everything we could have possibly done and I’m glad we had the support of so many students,’ Wu said. One of Mutgi and Basch’s platforms is campus beautification, and Wu hopes they will focus on the interior of buildings on campus and not just the exterior. ‘I’ll be working to bring better technology to classrooms and in improving the appearance of classrooms,’ Wu said. As for not winning the race, Wu said he was let down. ‘I am disappointed we didn’t win,’ he said. ‘Sundeep and Kevin will get things done, but they’ll just go about it a different way than we would have.’ Freshman Dylan Kromer said he has confidence in Mutgi and Basch. ‘I voted for them because I think they’ll be good leaders,’ Kromer said. And even though he had never heard of Basch and Mutgi before the pair started campaigning, he said once he talked to Basch, he liked what he heard. ‘Basch was a very easy going guy and knew what he was talking about so I decided to vote for him,’ Kromer said. Since Kromer will still be living on-campus next year, he is concerned with the required meal plans offered by the University and not having rollover. ‘The food prices are way too high on campus and they said they would look out for students, so I can’t wait to see them tackle that issue,’ he said.