First-years elect 2 representatives to SG assembly

Everett Etié and Aarnav Bansal will serve as UT Student Government’s first-year representatives for the 2026-27 academic year. The Election Supervisory Board announced election results Monday in the William C. Powers, Jr. Student Activity Center auditorium after voting closed Sept. 23.

Freshmen and new transfer students elect first-year representatives to join the Student Government legislative branch, where they can serve on committees and vote on bills on behalf of their first-year constituents.

These representatives will be sworn in at the SG public assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 6. 

Everett Etié

Business honors freshman Everett Etié campaigned largely through social media, posting Reels to his nearly 4,000 Instagram followers and shared a Google Form for potential voters to share their concerns and ideas. Etié also won the annual Gone to Texas video contest for his video where he discussed his experiences as an out-of-state student from Louisiana. 

“(I’m) most looking forward to seeing where we can make an impact, seeing where we can really change UT the best we can, with the opportunity that we (have) and bringing light to other UT students,” Etié said.

Etié said he wants to be sure to make realistic promises, citing the desires of many students to expand seating at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. He also mentioned ideas like implementing portable charging stations across campus and improving facilities in Gregory Gym. 

“I want to help make UT feel smaller by creating more opportunities for first-years to connect,” Etié wrote in his candidate statement. “I want to explore ways to make navigating student organizations and their application processes less overwhelming for students already balancing packed schedules. Most importantly, I want to listen.”

Aarnav Bansal

Aarnav Bansal, another business honors freshman, said he took an alternative route to his campaign. Bansal said he did not post any physical media of himself, focusing instead on social media and talking one-on-one to first-year students. The out-of-state student from New Jersey said he devoted hours daily to talking with first-years during the campaign period, trying to understand the issues they cared about.

“(Students) don’t care about my opinions and my thoughts; they care about how I can best represent them,” Bansal said. “I wanted to be the best representative for them, and that starts with talking and understanding their problems.”

Bansal called his campaign “The Bridge” and said he wanted to focus on building relationships among students and creating opportunities for them to share their concerns. He mentioned creating clearer communication channels in freshman dorms to resolve issues such as air conditioning.

Bansal said joining SG has always been his “North Star,” and he hopes to run for an executive position in the future.

“I wanted to do something where I can amplify people’s voice, because I’ve learned over the years that I have an adeptness at empathizing, understanding and then using my speaking abilities to amplify people’s opinions and thoughts,” Bansal said. 

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