Student Government Association (SGA) elections are underway beginning on Monday, April 7. All students will have the opportunity to vote for multiple positions, including the roles of president and vice president. The Villanovan had the opportunity to meet with both campaigns and discuss their goals and hopes for the University if elected.
Aleko Zeppos and Sidney Mbah
Aleko Zeppos is one of two candidates running for SGA Student Body President. He is a junior VSB student majoring in marketing and international business, with minors in finance and real estate. He hails from Wyomissing, PA.
Zeppos currently serves as the Vice President of the SGA, alongside current President Dean Millard. Before being elected to this role, he has been involved in serving Villanova’s student government since his freshman year. During his sophomore year, Zeppos served as the VSB Senator and chaired the SGA’s Campus Climate Committee.
His running mate is sophomore Sidney Mbah, a biochemistry major from Abbington, PA. He has also served as a chair on the SGA Campus Climate Committee.
When discussing his motivation to run for SGA President, Zeppos voiced his utmost admiration and dedication to the University. He explained how his love for the campus’s culture and students have inspired him to run in order to give back.
“We have a beautiful community here, it’s unmatched,” Zeppos said. “I really think it’s the people [that make Villanova so great]. That’s why I got involved in student government and want to see change here on campus: for the students.”
The Zeppos-Mbah campaign focuses on improving dining, expanding menstrual product access and strengthening ties between student organizations and SGA. In terms of dining, Zeppos noted his working relationship with Villanova’s dining staff, and how these connections have led to many initiatives around campus: sushi and poke in Cova, a pop-up parmesan cheese wheel pasta station and a Holy Grounds location on South Campus. He stressed how he would continue to build upon the success realized in the current administration.
“I lead by listening, I love to talk to students,” Zeppos said. “The students are my priority, and we pride ourselves on that.”
Zeppos also emphasized expanding free access to menstrual products across campus. He acknowledged current Class of 2026 Senators Gigi Giuliano and Savie Seebald as the “powerful women” who have spearheaded this initiative, and emphasized his commitment to work with them in order to increase availability in all academic buildings.
Lastly, Zeppos emphasized his goal to bolster communication between student organizations and the SGA through a Student Organization Liaison Program, which would ensure one-to-one point of contact for all 300-plus groups on campus.
“[Sidney and I] are devoted to helping these organizations, and to help uplift groups who are underfunded to assist them in putting on their important events,” Zeppos said.
Zeppos discussed how despite this, some students may still feel out of touch with the SGA.
“I think getting the word out [about SGA’s doings and availability] could be a challenge, and we are looking to improve that,” he said. “There are so many ways we reach out to students, through tabling in the Oreo, office hours and more.”
Zeppos discussed how, as the sitting vice president, he understands the importance of fair and accurate representation of the community and the way to achieve this ideal. Specifically, he pointed to the regular conversations he has with many top University officials as a way in which he has been able to advocate for the student body’s will.
“[The current administration] and I have great discussions with the deans, Father Peter, University staff and administrators,” Zeppos said. “Any chance I or SGA can have in building that community up will be my priority. I think we’ve done a phenomenal job with that, and we are on an uphill trajectory.”
When asked why students should vote for him, Zeppos again stressed his love for the Villanova Community, and his utmost desire to serve its members.
“I bleed Villanova blue,” he said. “I really love this place, and I want to make sure every student loves it just as much as I do.”
The current Vice President also emphasized his incumbency within SGA, and how his current role within the organization has given him the experience and connections necessary to carry out the job.
“We know how to get change done on this campus, and we will continue to enact that change into this next administration,” he said. “We’ve truly done so much, all for the students. At the end of the day, I think that’s what the students will see–representatives who truly care about the student body.”
Andrew Smith and Charlie Perricelli
Andrew Smith is the additional candidate running for SGA Student Body President. He is a junior humanities and political science major from Edgmont, PA, with leadership positions in both Villanova and community-based organizations.
His running mate is Charlie Perricelli, a sophomore studying international pre-law with a concentration on the Middle East. Perricelli was raised in New York City and currently lives in Kansas.
When discussing their ambitions for choosing to run for office, Smith and Perricelli emphasized that their campaign is rooted in making student voices heard and restructuring SGA.
“As Villanova expands as an institution, it’s also important that, like, the students, have a voice and a place in the expansion,” Smith said. “And Charlie and I want to make sure that that voice is heard and voiced for which we think that the current administration has failed to do in many ways.”
Their platform includes improving the reusable take-out box program that aligns with student opinions, increasing SGA transparency and lowering prices for essential goods in on-campus convenience stores.
“Charlie and I have done pretty extensive research into what’s publicly available on the web and the companies that the University currently contracts with for the plastic reusable boxes,” Smith said. “And through that research, there’s a lot of inconsistency, like a negligible amount of inconsistencies in the case studies published and posted by the company which the university is currently contracting with.”
The team explained how they believed that the current take-out box program failed to take student approval into account. They also expressed their skepticism of the current sustainable factors and hopes for working with Dining Services to improve the dining experience, while also continuing to increase campus sustainability.
Smith and Perricelli drew attention to how they hope to make students’ voices heard if they were to be elected. They want to ensure that the online SGA materials are updated and available for students to access.
“We also want to make sure that the meeting minutes and the bills are posted on the website,” Smith said. “Also that there’s an updated constitution and that the website has everything you need to utilize the SGA resources.”
Smith and Perricelli also plan to advocate for lowering prices of essential items at on-campus convenience stores.
“There’s no reason for why feminine hygiene products, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, all this stuff that we need to live healthy lives,” Smith said. “There’s no reason it should cost as much as it does.”
Additional campaign goals include a guardhouse on South Campus, bringing Chick-Fil-A to campus, longer gym hours and additional town halls with University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D.
“Our campaign goals and strategies are developed on our interactions with the entire student body, and we’re really looking forward to integrating that into the way we administer student government and really change with some new perspectives,” Perricelli said.
While discussing SGA’s purpose to advocate for the student body, Smith and Perricelli explained how they hope to increase interactions with students. Their plans included creating a “doors-open policy” for office hours, consistent student polling and year-round tabling in all of the academic buildings.
When asked why students should vote for them, the team shared how their optimism for the University and SGA’s future aligns with their campaign goals.
“We’re doing this because we care,” Smith said. “We’re doing it because this is an opportunity to take SGA and take Villanova to another level.”
The Smith and Perricelli campaign also explained that they hope to utilize their ambitions to create a new vision for SGA.
“I think that we offer a new perspective, a new energy, and new ideas that are practical and can be implemented,” Smith said. “They’re what you seem to actually want.”
Voting will take place via email from Monday, April 7 at 8 a.m. to Tuesday, April 8 at 12 p.m.
