On Monday, Nov. 18, current Bucknell Student Government (BSG) Vice President of Operations Amira Faden ’26 announced the results of the 2025 BSG Executive Board Election: President- Michael Meskos ’27, Vice President of Operations- Tess Korten ’27 and Vice President of Administration- Lexi Ross ’27.
Before their terms begin next semester, “The Bucknellian” interviewed current president Thandeka Bango ’26 to reflect on what he and the entire BSG Congress have been able to accomplish during his term, particularly this semester.
Updates on BSG
Bango highlighted a few current initiatives that BSG has been working on to promote the general welfare of our community.
First, the Academic Committee made strides in responding to a demand from the Black Student Union’s Spring 2023 list of demands, which called on the administration and BSG to make tangible improvements to the Black student experience on campus. Demand number five specifically asked for “the inclusion of questions about the racial climate of classrooms in end-of-semester course evaluations”
“In response, BSG unanimously voted to fully endorse and support COI’s call for the faculty to approve the addition of two new questions to end-of-semester course evaluations that would capture the experiences of marginalization or bias in the instruction or class environment,” Bango said. “This resolution and their motion were presented to the Faculty Council to be voted upon.”
Additionally, Bango is looking forward to seeing more from a Sustainability Committee initiative next semester: a campus thrift store. With support from the Interim Dean of Student Teresa McKinney, the Sustainability Committee is aiming to create a thrift store for student use and donation on the first floor of the ELC; already, BSG has passed a resolution to fund essential items for the store.
From the Community Committee, Bango highlighted their support of the Lewisburg Children’s Museum’s annual ‘Munchkins & Pumpkins’ event. As they had for the three years prior, the Community Committee volunteered doing face painting for the children in attendance and donated 100 hand-packaged Halloween-themed activity bags of crafts, activities, toys and candy.
At Sunday Congress sessions, BSG is typically joined by outside speakers, who engage in discussions with Congress members. This semester, BSG participated in Power Consciousness Training with Bucknell’s Equity and Inclusive Excellence Offices, heard from Interim Associate Dean for Health and Wellness John Dunkle on his focus on improving the efficacy of the Counselling and Student Development Center, discussed the ongoing relationship between BSG and the Lewisburg community with Mayor Kendy Alvarez, collaborated with Bucknell Dining to give student feedback and finally, had a structured open forum with President John Bravman.
Bango shared that, as BSG continues to improve their communication with the administration, the annual ‘A Night With The Presidents’ will transition into a town hall that features various upper-level administrators. Bango feels that this “will enable students to have greater access to these individuals, strengthening our campus community.”
In addition to improving communication with administration, in the past few years, BSG has also been able to expand its interaction with the Board of Trustees. Though historically BSG has presented to the Board of Trustees, this access ceased until last school year, when then-President Sam Douds ’25 was able to re-establish this connection. After the 2023 Executive Board presented at the fall Board of Trustees session that year, the 2024 Executive Board (Bango, Faden and Vice President of Administration Eliza Morris ’26) was able to do the same. Bango described the presentation and experience as “incredible. We felt not just honored to present but appreciated for our commitment to making positive impacts on our campus community.”
The Executive Board presented four areas of importance to the campus community and how BSG is engaged in improving them: food, the first-year experience, communication with administration and the election and political landscape. Regarding food, the Executive Board covered the transition of Bucknell Dining to Chartwells, campus food insecurity and the Bucknell Waste Audit completed last semester. (“P.S. Bucknell does recycle and a large majority of our campus waste can be recycled, composted or donated,” Bango noted).
With first-year experience, Bango, Faden and Morris covered BSG’s work to restructure the dialogues during orientation to better equip students to discuss subjects such as diversity, social injustice and interpersonal violence, as well as the potential for more social spaces on campus.
Around communication with administration, BSG resecured three student seats on the University Council for the first time in 16 years and Bango presented a bylaw that secured a permanent student seat on the President’s Sustainability Council.
Lastly, surrounding the election and political landscape, the Executive Committee discussed the “Bucknell Bubble” and social and political involvement on campus, focusing on current and potential protest spaces and regulations, work with Student Affairs around engagement with Dignity & Dialogue Circles and campus election registration initiatives.
Reflections from Bango
Coming into his term as BSG President, Bango expected the position to be time-consuming and a heavy workload but has been surprised by how fulfilling the position has been. “I am motivated in my work because I enjoy my work. It’s not something that I have to do but instead work that I actively want to,” he shared. Bango has also been surprised by his “own potential” as a leader and seeing himself “create tangible impacts and allow everyone to feel safe and supported by their peers.”
“I want to inspire individuals and allow them the opportunity to feel comfortable and safe within their community, a luxury that I often could not have growing up marginalized in oppressive societies, but believe everyone deserves,” Bango shared. “The work leaders in social justice commit to is ongoing, but I’m proud of my achievements this year and my ability to occupy space and advocate for marginalized communities. It’s often difficult for individuals to feel wanted in a space when it lacks the representation needed for them to imagine themselves in those positions. Becoming the Executive President of BSG was an opportunity for me to inspire other students to do the same, to be involved in leadership positions like BSG and see themselves and their experiences through me and in doing so, feel comfortable joining the organization.”
Looking forward to the next BSG Executive Board and specifically to Mesko’s term as president, Bango advises Mesko to “be himself. The best way to connect with our campus community and serve them is by being yourself. In tackling various issues on campus, recognize the role you have in working with communities and not just for them. Recognize that you may not have all the answers and through that, rely on the support provided by your Vice Presidents and by Congress. Every individual has valuable knowledge that can be applied to the issues you will need to address on campus: listen, learn, and act.”
Bango is “fully confident that Michael Meskos, 2025 Executive President, will excel in this role” and “looks forward to all of you knowing him as the leader he is.”
