Meet USF’s new student body president and vice president

*Student body president-elect Suryakanth Prasad Gottipati was sworn in on Wednesday afternoon. ORACLE PHOTO / JUSTIN SEECHARAN*

A new era of Student Government (SG) just arrived.

In a quick five-minute ceremony, student body president-elect Suryakanth Prasad Gottipati and vice president-elect Sumit Subhash Jadhav were sworn in on Wednesday afternoon.

Their term will start on May 6 and last for one year.

Gabrielle Fuchslocher, Supreme Court chief justice, and Vincent Milianta, senior justice, administered the oath for Gottipati and Jadhav, respectively. The ceremony was held in the SG Senate Chambers in the Marshall Student Center.

In their oaths, both leaders swore to uphold their respective offices and the SG constitution as well as to represent the student body to the best of their knowledge.

The roughly 30-person crowd cheered and banged on tables to celebrate after the pair completed their swearing in.

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Gottipati and Jadhav – who are both international students from India – chose to be sworn in with the “Baghavad Gita: As it is,” a Hindu holy book.

The ceremony comes just four days after the Court ruled in favor of the pair in a grievance filed by Alexa Matos and Rithkvik Lee Pack, another ticket in the election.

Gottipati and Jadhav were accused of intimidating voters. The prosecution argued the pair hired Anubhav Gupta, a senate transcriber, to approach students on campus and strategically show them QR codes linked directly to the voting software.

Though they were “confident” throughout the trial, Jadhav also said he was relieved to see the court’s unanimous ruling in their favor.

“We are thankful and very grateful for everyone who helped us and supported us throughout the process because going through that trial for two months is a marathon,” Sumit said. “It takes a lot of strength. It takes a lot of stamina.”

SG adviser Gary Manka said the ceremony on Wednesday needed to occur before May 6 – when the new president’s and vice president’s term starts – to avoid a “selection of last resort” after delays related to grievances.

A selection of last resort occurs when the Senate chooses the presidential ticket and the vote of the student body is waived.

A second swearing in ceremony will be held “for pomp” later on during the summer semester after the pair’s term starts, Manka said.

After a long journey working within SG, Gottipatti said he was excited to start building his cabinet once his term as president begins.

As president, Gottipati also has a seat in the university’s Board of Trustees. The board is a decision-making body for USF that has voted on stadium approvals as well as housing and infrastructure plans.

With his board seat, Gottipati will be able to vote on a plan to add a college to USF focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

“We have the best experience and we best know students’ problems,” he said. “We got a really good backup from the students voluntarily for us.”

Other powers for Gottipatti include nominating justices to the Supreme Court, vetoing legislation passed by the Senate, writing executive orders and initiating annual budget proceedings.

Prior to his election, Gottipati worked as the director of University Affairs for the executive branch, which helps the communication between SG and USF administrators.

Their salary is paid by Activity and Services fees, a $7 flat and $12.18 fee per credit hour included in students’ tuition.

Jadhav, who was the senate president pro-tempore, said the new role is particularly important to him because he is an international student. As vice president, Jadhav is tasked to represent the student body in the president’s absence.

“We were told ‘You are a minority, that’s not your home, you’re going there as a student but you don’t belong there,’” he said. “But then when I came here, the kind of welcome that I got, how the USF community welcomed me, was truly amazing.”