Senior Michael Gaytko was sworn in as the new president of Undergraduate Student Government via Skype Sunday night by former President Ryan Smith.

Gaytko, who is studying abroad in Japan through July, then proceeded to swear in the other new members of the executive board and student government.

A total of 1,340 votes were cast in the election of the five-member executive board. Junior Jon Page was elected as executive vice-president along with junior Rebekah Nelson, vice president of administrative affairs; junior Laura Swartz, vice president of public relations; and sophomore Mary Naughton, vice president of academic affairs.

Gaytko, who will be unable to act as president over the summer during his time abroad, is still excited to move into his new position in USG.

“It was a lot of hard work that paid off,” Gaytko said. During his time as president he said he hopes to ensure the completion of long-term USG projects that usually stall during administration changes.

“I’d like to take some of the ideas that we’ve had and build off of them and really try to reform the whole USG system by internally reviewing things to make it a lot more effective,” Gaytko said.

Additionally, Gaytko hopes to lessen what he sees as a “disconnect with the people that run the university and the students that attend it.”

In his election statement Gaytko did not include that he would be gone for the first several months of his presidency. While many members of USG, as well as friends, knew of his absence, Gaytko said he does not think it will be an issue since he will be back before fall semester starts.

“People knew that I was out here and people still voted,” Gaytko said. “A lot of the duties that I would be doing will happen when I get back.”

Until Gaytko’s return, Page will be acting as president.

“I definitely knew that was a possibility, but I talked with Chad Berg and Ryan Smith beforehand,” Page said. “They were really the two that encouraged me to run for the executive board in the first place, and they were confident, so I am too.”

Smith is the former president and Berg is the former vice president. After Page’s election as executive vice president, however, a candidacy eligibility grievance was filed to the elections and credentials committee by members of USG and Gaytko’s running mate, vice presidential candidate Jack Hiniker.

The grievance focused on vague wording in the USG constitution concerning the eligibility of Jon Page to act as president in Gaytko’s absence. The constitution states that the president must have two full semesters of experience on USG to be eligible. Additionally, the vice president must serve as president in his or her absence and therefore must be eligible to be president.

The grievance, which cited the constitution, argued that Jon Page is ineligible to act as president in Gaytko’s absence since he only has one semester of experience on USG, not the two required to be president.

Since the grievance was filed after the election was completed, however, the executive board decided that this was not a matter for the elections and credentials committee to review but for the executive board, according to former president Smith.

“It’s a complicated issue,” Smith said. “We decided this was an issue not about the candidate. If this was during or prior to the elections, absolutely it would have been an (elections committee) issue and the grievance would have gone to them. Since it was about a constitutional issue and not an actual candidate, we handled it.”

While Hiniker, who will return to his position as junior class senator, respects the decision of the executive board, he believes the grievance should have been reviewed by the committee it was filed with.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the executive board, in my book, overstepped their bounds and did not allow the elections and credentials committee, which is the independent review board of USG, to do their job,” Hiniker said. “I think they made their decision with the best intents at heart, but it’s unfortunate.”

Given the executive board’s ruling, Page will serve as executive vice president and carry out the duties of president until Gaytko returns.

The start of a journey for the new executive board is the end of a journey for Smith and his team.

“This year has been a learning experience for all of us,” Smith said. “I’ve learned so much from working with each one of these individuals. These are lessons I’ll take with me the rest of my life, and I’m grateful for that.”

Simeon Lancaster can be reached at lanc4637@stthomas.edu.