Student Congress met for a special session on Thursday evening to elect an interim Student Association (SA) vice president for academic affairs (VPAA) after Adam Wilkes, a junior double-majoring in economics and sociology, who has held the position since August, stepped down.

Nicholas Ferrara, the president of the SA and a senior majoring in political science, nominated Benjamin Breban, the former research assistant in the SA Academic Affairs Office and a junior majoring in mathematics, to take over the position.

“We need someone who can maintain consistency from Adam’s office, so what he was working on doesn’t fall apart while we wait for the election to conclude, so that we can have a more permanent replacement who can work on more long-term visions,” Ferrara said of Wilkes’ successor. “I think Ben [Breban] is great for that — he worked a lot on Adam’s projects, he knows a lot about University policy; I think he will do a great job and be a great addition to the e-board.”

Congress then moved to a vote in which Breban was elected with 32 yes votes, zero no votes and one abstention. He said he looks forward to serving the position until someone is elected for the spring semester.

“I feel I’m qualified, I’ve been to all of Adam’s meetings, I plan to continue his efforts to establish an SA mentorship program, work on the availability of a public health major for undergraduate students and potentially open up [computer science] classes to the broader Harpur [College] student base,” Breban said. “I plan on continuing that and keeping everything going steady.”

Wilkes spoke briefly, thanking Congress for their time and offering his advice to any future SA member.

“Thank you for letting me be the vice president for academic affairs, it’s been awesome and it’s been an incredible experience learning about leadership and learning about what actually goes on at this University,” Wilkes said, “If you have any questions, come to me. I really want to help the SA in the future, and I’m available to any future vice president for academic affairs.”

The special election for the next SA VPAA will take place on Monday, Dec. 5. Letters of intent are due on Monday, Nov. 21, and require 120 signatures. On Sunday, Dec. 4 an open forum will be held in Lecture Hall 10 at 2:30 p.m. in which questions can be posed to the candidates.