For the first time since 1996, ASUA will have an all-female executive board. And three elected representatives hail from the same greek organization — the Chi Omega sorority.

Katy Murray, a marketing junior and president-elect of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, Krystina Nguyen, a biology junior and executive vice president-elect and Valerie Hanna, a political science freshman and senator-elect with the most votes, are all in the same sorority.

Although some may fear that this lessens diversity within ASUA, Murray said that because the three have different majors and experiences, they will bring a “fresh” look and a broad perspective to the senate.

“Having a group of officials all from a variety of majors gives us all different strengths,” Murray said.

Although there were a number of factors that contributed to each one of their successful campaigns, Murray, who won the presidency by 5.3 percentage points, said that Chi Omega members were a huge help.

“Our sisters showed so much support,” Nguyen added. She won her position by 8.3 percentage points. “They really rallied behind us, came on the Mall to help us campaign and wore our T-shirts.”
Their sorority sisters also did things like update their Facebook statuses about supporting them in the elections, Nguyen said, and reached out to as many people as they knew both verbally and electronically.

Hanna said she thinks it was nice to have the support of an organization like the sorority. It felt nice to know that she had friends going through the same thing she went through, she said, as well as older sisters who previously went through similar struggles. The fact that the three women are all in the same sorority is an advantage, Hanna added, because since they are already so close, it will be easy to talk and discuss issues with each other about ASUA and senate-related issues.

Being in the greek system while serving in ASUA will be a great help, Murray said, because you are automatically connected to many different networks. This will help better represent the 13 percent of campus involved in Greek Life, she added.

As a biology major, Nguyen said she can help represent students majoring in the sciences, who are normally underrepresented in ASUA.

“I don’t really bump into that many science majors in ASUA,” Nguyen said, “so it’s very nice to be able to say that their voice will be heard.”

Nguyen also said she feels her sorority is a “great networking tool.” Between their connections to Greek Life and different majors, the three can really help the Senate’s outreach, she said.

“Each person elected brings a unique set of abilities and talents to the table,” Murray said, “as well as a completely different group of constituents and I really think that gives us a unique opportunity to really reach out to as many students as possible.”