After a high-turnout contest on Monday, April 14, Nicole Meyers ’26.5 won the Student Government Association election and will serve as Middlebury’s first female Feb president next year. Together with vice presidents Anna Miller ’26 and Anina Dentel-Pham ’27, Meyers defeated Tony Wang ’26 by just 1.9%, or 28 votes — the tightest presidential margin in at least the past eight years.
With 660 votes, Meyers’ campaign edged ahead with 45.6% of the vote, as opposed to Wang’s 43.7% of the total 1,365 votes cast on Monday; 155 voters abstained from choosing a candidate.
Meyers, a Literary Studies major and the current SGA Health and Wellness Director, wrote in an email to The Campus that she looks forward to turning student feedback into policy next year.
“I’m incredibly honored that the student body believed in me, my team and my mission,” Meyers wrote. “I love hearing students’ concerns and developing solutions, which is something I’m looking forward to doing next year.”
This year’s single-day election marked record-breaking voter turnout with a total of 47.3%, a slight uptick from last year’s 46.7% of the student body, who voted in a three-day period.
“What surprised me the most was the voter turnout. I was shocked by how many people came out and voted,” Meyers wrote.
Other than the schoolwide presidential election, senators for each class year were also elected this week.
Five candidates ran for Sophomore Senator, with current senators Jeffrey Teh ’28 (39.0%) and Namrita Ghani ’28 (20.9%) winning the positions for next fall.
Four candidates ran for the Junior Senator position, with Shloka Raghavan ’27 (25.3%) and Jori Almahdi ’27 (18.1%) coming away victorious.
Senior Senators Bryan Harris ’26 and Joshua Garson ’26 also won their race, which was uncontested.
The Feb Senator vote went to Jonny Eaton ’26.5, who ran uncontested.
Nicole Meyers '26.5 at the SGA debate last Friday.
Middlebury students were introduced to the candidates on Friday, April 11 at the SGA Presidential Debate in Wilson Hall, where candidates answered questions about their contrasting agendas.
Meyers, who stressed the importance of listening to student voices, outlined her platform with a strong focus on health and community. She continued on to state the importance of a strong relationship between the SGA and the incoming President, Ian Baucom, especially during times of national political turmoil.
“I’d like to look at possibly facilitating weekly meetings between me and [Baucom], especially given the fast-moving nature of this situation,” Meyers wrote.
Wang began with a warm opening that addressed the crowd, which included many of his supporters. He continued on, highlighting policies that focused on social and structural changes. Wang emphasized the importance of fostering a tight-knit community between athletic, international and first year student social circles.
“We are all at one campus, you know we’re a community — let's try and close that gap,” Wang said.
After the SGA debate, candidate Islam Abushareah ’26.5 withdrew from the ballot on Saturday, April 12. In a statement issued on his campaign’s Instagram account, Abushareah thanked his team’s supporters, who he said had “demonstrated humanism that is becoming rarer and rarer on our campus.”
Abushareah’s campaign went on to endorse Meyers, adding that “we trust her ability to deliver servant leadership to the student body.”
Meyers will take office at the start of the academic year next fall, hoping to bring about change in a timely, thoughtful manner. Her priorities include facilitating conversations with the college’s incoming president Ian Baucom and beginning conversations with the Snow Bowl to increase accessibility for all students, as well as addressing the threats to higher education looming on the horizon.
