Dylan Lustig spent the majority of Thursday night pacing in his apartment wearing a suit and tie, waiting for a phone call that would affect the next year of his life.

Lustig and about 20 of his closest friends and supporters gathered in his South Campus apartment to await the results of the 2011 Student Association presidential campaign.

Polling closed at midnight and the candidates expected to receive phone calls with the results by 12:10 a.m. Friday. As he waited, Lustig sat on the stairs with his two campaign managers clutching his phone and expressing his gratitude to everyone who had helped him during the election.

When the call came in at 12:45 a.m., Lustig learned he won 64 percent of the vote, garnering 2,167 votes. His opponent Taylor Carr received 972 votes. The percentage of students who voted came in 26.1, according to an email sent by PJ Alampi, chair of the Board of Elections and Membership committee.

‘I was so surprised— but in a good way,’ Lustig said. ‘Yes, I had a good feeling about things, but you always have that feeling of ‘was it enough and could we have done more?’ I’m so thankful; I’m honored that so many people would support me.’

After receiving the news, Lustig’s supporters erupted in a round of applause. His campaign managers breathed a sign of relief and embraced him in a hug.

Upon request, Lustig stood on a chair and delivered a speech. He said he was excited for the win, but even if he had lost he would have considered their efforts to improve the organization a victory in itself.

‘We have a lot to do,’ Lustig said after receiving the results. ‘We’re going to make this place much better and we’re going to make this organization one that represents the students.’

Lustig publicly thanked the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, a new organization on campus he recently joined, for their efforts in spreading the word about his campaign.

Dwight Stevenson, the SU chapter president of Phi Delta Theta and Lustig’s fraternity brother, said he approached basketball players such as Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters to have them pose with a sign that said ‘Vote for Dylan Lustig.’ Many of them complied and posted the pictures on their Twitter accounts, which further exposed the campus to Lustig’s name and face.

Stevenson said he was more than willing to do this for Lustig because he respected the work Lustig is doing to reform SA and said Lustig is the type of member his fraternity was looking for.

‘There’s a real void within Greek life as far as people that are really involved and engaged on campus, so Phi Delta Theta came back to campus with a question: ‘Are you a leader?’ The people we went after are really engaged on campus, the natural leaders,’ he said.

The fraternity currently has more than 10 members who are campus presidents of their respective student organizations.

Not long after his speech, Lustig realized that he had missed a call from Carr and eventually the two were able to get in touch. Carr congratulated Lustig and Lustig told Carr that he hopes they can still work together to improve SA.

Alexandra Curtis, one of Lustig’s campaign managers and a member of both the Academic Affairs and Student life committee, said social media played a large role in the campaign and it will continue to do so within SA.

‘People aren’t going to see us disappear,’ she said. ‘Now that we’re 100 percent, now that we have Dylan, and we have a very active group of people, SA is something that’s going to rise.

Lustig said his first course of action as SA president will be to make his office hours more available to students. The hours are currently posted outside the SA office, but he wants to make them accessible online and at the student activities desk, as well. Lustig said he would also like to create a forum for different types of organizations on campus to discuss financial budgets, because this will lead to higher understanding of the policy.

During the next few weeks, Lustig said he will begin his transition period with the current SA president, Neal Casey, to get a sense of the day-to-day activities of his job. Lustig will officially take over as president of the 56th session of SA on Jan. 18.

Curtis said she has no doubt that Lustig’s enthusiasm will improve the overall image of SA.

‘I look at Dylan and I see someone who is humble and caring and just so gracious,’ said Curtis. ‘It’s refreshing and inspirational.’

egsawyer@syr.edu 

Published on November 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer