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Wheeler, Shaikh set to take SGA helm

SGA presidential candidate Courtney Wheeler and her running mate Bilal Shaikh (far left) prepare to speak during the President and Vice President Debate on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, at UK College of Law Grand Courtroom in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Luke Taylor | Staff

Emily Laytham
March 4, 2020

Courtney Wheeler and Bilal Shaikh are currently set to serve as next year’s Student Government Association president and vice president, respectively, according to the organization’s BBNvolved page.

The Wheeler and Shaikh ticket won with 60.4 percent of the vote, according to tentative SGA documents. Chandler Frierson and Sukruthi Yerramreddy received 24.9 percent of the vote; and Kayla Woodson and Edward Lo received 11.5 percent.

These results are unofficial and will remain tentative until confirmed by SGA Supreme Court members next week.

Wheeler and Shaikh, both currently in SGA—Wheeler as chief of staff and Shaikh as a senator—will succeed current president Michael Hamilton and VP Kat Speece. Shaikh sat on the University Senate Council and the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Wheeler and Shaikh ran on a ticket devoted to amplifying student voices, improving mental health, fostering diversity and providing alcohol at UK venues on gamedays. According to SGA documents, Wheeler and Shaikh are also “committed to implementing reading days to the academic calendar.” Reading days would prohibit “formal classes on the last two school days before finals.”

The unofficial SGA results also detail the elected undergraduate and graduates at large, as well as each college’s representative for the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. Those results can be found on BBNvolved and are as follows:

Undergraduates at large