Andrew Cabaj elected new SGA treasurer, says he hopes to improve transparency

The Student Government Association elected Clarkston senior Andrew Cabaj as treasurer, beating out three other candidates in Monday's general board election.

Cabaj, the former treasurer of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, won the election with 55 total votes and said he entered the race not because it gave him an opportunity to benefit the student body.

"I'm not doing this for a resume builder," Cabaj said. "I'm doing this because I want to give back."

Cabaj separated himself from the three other candidates by proposing changes to how SGA presents its finances to the public, stressing his goal was to bring increased transparency and accountability to the SGA.

He wants to reformat SGA finances into an accessible excel format, forming bi-weekly budget reports which will be published on SGA's OrgSync so the public can gain a full understanding of how much the SGA spends and how much it makes. The reports will start to be published at the beginning of the spring semester.

Cabaj said the public has no method of easy access to SGA's finances.

Cabaj said as it stands now, he would rank SGA's transparency at a two out of five. He said he alone does not share this concern, increased transparency has been a concern for all of SGA.

"I was approached by a couple of members before I ran," Cabaj said. "These reports will improve our transparency to the public."

SGA Vice President Killian Richeson, a Hesperia senior, said in a statement that he was excited to see what Cabaj was going to accomplish.

"I have seen him in action as treasurer of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. With SAE, he turned around the account receivables and provided solid structure for the future of SAE's finances," Richeson said. "I am excited to see him apply what he knows and his skills to the position and help to make the treasurer post into one of more relevance"