Undergraduate Student Governance
Student Government Association—Although some non-military students have always studied at the university, their numbers were small for the first half-century. By 1930 the number of “out of military” male students had increased to a point where about 200 of them decided to form their own student government and established the Civilian Student Union in November of that year. Female students countered with a Women’s Student Union in September 1934. The two unions combined to form a single Civilian Student Body on Nov. 14, 1939, in a move by the male civilians to counter the power of the cadets, who, they surmised, had too much control in student government. In 1965 the corps of cadets defeated a proposed constitution for a Student Body of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, which would have merged the civilian and military student governments, while the civilian student body voted in favor of the proposed constitution. On April 19, 1966, all civilians and cadets united under a single constitution, forming a Unified Student Body. The name of the organization was changed later that same year to the Student Government Association.
Civilian Student Body Presidents—The first president of the Civilian Student Union (later called the Civilian Student Body) was elected for the 1934-35 session. Unlike the corps, the vice president served as president of the senate. The last president of the CSB was elected for the 1965-66 session. CSB presidents, listed by the academic year in which they served:
1934-35 A. J. Francis Jr.
1935-36 A. A. George
1936-37 J. W. Apperson
1937-38 V. H. Belcher
1938-39 U. F. Earp
1939-40 J. W. Massey
1940-41 M. M. Bush
1941-42 S. S. Cutler
1942-43 J. R. Brown
1943-44 R. C. Gawthmey (part), W. H. Rosch (part)
1944-45 R. B. McCulloch
1945-46 R. H. Hahn (part), T. T. Callahan Jr. (part)
1946-47 M. L. Oliver
1947-48 B. E. Ames
1948-49 H. H. Caldwell
1949-50 J. C. Curling
1950-51 U. F. Kindle
1951-52 S. U. Boaze Jr.
1952-53 C. M. Montague
1953-54 J. H. Swink
1954-55 W. C. Latham
1955-56 G. M. Oxley
1956-57 A. P. Sturges
1957-58 R. L. Wood
1958-59 R. E. Benton
1959-60 J. B. Obenchain
1960-61 C. L. Vaughan
1961-62 R. S. Barrett
1962-63 G. F. Chandler III
1963-64 F. M. Dickinson
1964-65 F. W. Nolen
1965-66 K. O. Clay
Student Government Association Presidents—The first president of the Student Government Association (Unified Student Body during 1966‑67) was elected for the 1966‑67 session. The first woman president, Sharon J. Brown, assumed office in mid-year in 1980-81 upon the resignation of the previous president. SGA presidents, listed by the academic year in which they served:
1966-67 M. G. Rigney
1967-68 William Coulbourne Jr.
1968-69 Raymond D. Smoot Jr.
1969-70 D. M. Norris
1970-71 R. L. Hawthorne
1971-72 Fred W. George
1972-73 C. C. “Chuck” Lacy
1973-74 Neil Burgess
1974-75 Gary Clisham
1975-76 Steven K. Bannon
1976-77 Mark B. Warlick
1977-78 Danny J. Ludeman
1978-79 L. J. “Chip” Fortier II
1979-80 James W. Tucker
1980-81 J. J. Zelloe (resigned), Sharon J. Brown
1981-82 Sharon L. Williams
1982-83 Bob Jones
1983-84 Jeffrey A. Swartz
1984-85 Russell S. Thomas
1985-86 Walt Williams
1986-87 Dan Mahony
1987-88 David Baker
1988-89 David Baker
1989-90 David Gilbert
1990-91 James Budd
1991-92 Melissa Byrne
1992-93 Kevin Motley
1993-94 Ronald Stephenson
1994-95 Seth Ginther
1995-96 Shiloh Bates
1996-97 Jay Hulings
1997-98 Steve Schneider
1998-99 Jody Olson
1999-2000 Aaron McClung
2000-01 Kylie Felps
2001-02 Brian Montgomery
2002-03 Sterling Daniel
2003-04 Brant Snyder
2004-05 Sumeet Bagai
2005-06 Sumeet Bagai
2006-07 James Tyger
2007-08 Adeel Kahn
2008-09 Emily R. Mashack
2009-10 Brandon J. Carroll
2010-11 Henri “Bo” Going Hart
2011-12 Corbin DiMeglio
2012-13 Dustin Dorph
2013-14 Brent Ashley
2014-15 Elizabeth Lazor
2015-16 Tuna Shankar
2016-17 Alexa Parsley
2017-18 Rex Willis
2018-19 Sam Felber
Residence Hall Federation—A Civilian Interdormitory Council for male civilians and a Women’s Interdormitory Council for female students were established in 1966 to handle residence hall matters. In 1972 the two councils were subsumed by a Residence Hall Federation, which coordinates programs, activities, and governments of individual residence halls.
The Class System
A student’s class year generally has been of greater significance to most Virginia Tech students than whether he or she is a member of the freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior class, except in the case of cadet class privileges. Students are considered members of the class year that falls four years from the time they enroll. The system has been of particular significance since 1934 when juniors of the class of 1935 inaugurated the first Class Ring Dance.
Class Presidents—Class presidents are listed below by graduating year. The first female student elected class president was Jean Y. Harshbarger, class of 1974, and the first African-American student elected class president was Donald K. “D. K.” Brockett, class of 1981.
1895 Frederick W. Simpson
1896 Osceola C. Thompson
1897 William R. Kirkpatrick
1898 Obed F. Whitehurst
1899 Archibald B. Hubard.
1900 Charles F. Brown
1901 John B. Huffard
1902 Herbert G. McCormick
1903 Eugene W. Whisnant
1904 Francis R. Butler
1905 Clarence K. Hildebrand
1906 Alpheus D. Williams
1907 Thomas J. Wright
1908 Raymond S. Hoffman
1909 Paul P. Huffard
1910 John W. Edwards
1911 Alexander A. Waldrop
1912 George W. Chappelear Jr.
1913 Houston B. Hughes
1914 Henry M. Somerville
1915 Roland L. Davis
1916 Armistead T. M. Rust
1917 Harry E. Keller
1918 James A. Bell
1919 Wendell B. Goode
1920 James E. Old
1921 Guy E. Rice
1922 Melvin R. Jones
1923 Thomas L. Oliver
1924 Robert J. Rea
1925 Hunter S. Talman
1926 Rudolph D. Michael
1927 James N. Bond
1928 Edward W. Hutchinson Jr.
1929 William P. Chrisman
1930 Roger L. Amole
1931 Darthy H. Brown
1932 Charles H. Chrisman
1933 Alexander S. Wright Jr.
1934 Leon D. Simmons
1935 Gordon W. Wildes
1936 John M. Crafton
1937 Julius C. Hulcher
1938 Edward H. Fuller
1939 James A. Gaugle
1940 Samuel E. Bonsack III
1941 Stuart Johnson
1942 Lester M. Wright
1943 William E. Davis
1944 Henry J. Dekker
1945 R. W. McCue
1946, J. W. Kirk
1947 V. J. Moogalian
1948 John E. Scott
1949 Charles M. Forbes
1950 James E. Weaver
1951 Ronald B. Montague
1952 John A. Snider
1953 Thomas Stark III
1954 Wintfield G. Huffman
1955 Thomas J. Blair, William E. Norcross
1957 Kenneth C. Coleman
1958 William K. Barlow
1959 Robert E. Benton
1960 Danny W. Bird
1961 John T. Rice
1962 Samuel L. Lionberger
1963 David E. Lowe
1964 Robert E. Russell
1965 F. D. Magill Jr. (succeeded by Frank W. Nolen in September 1964)
1966 Kendall O. Clay
1967 Robert P. Keith
1968 Glenn A. Anderson
1969 Mark D. Musick
1970 Lester F. Langhans III
1971 James R. Mustard Jr.
1972 R. Gale King
1973 Clyde H. “Rocky” Sorrell Jr.
1974 Jean Y. Harshbarger
1975 Ernest O. Edwards
1976 William T. Clark
1977 Roy M. Martin Jr.
1978 Stephen H. Matthews
1979 Louis C. Haley
1980 Timothy McKissick
1981 Donald K. “D. K.” Brockett
1982 Wayne K. Waldrop
1983 Gregory D. Brainerd
1984 Wayland E. Hundley
1985 C. Montgomery “Monty” Wenk Jr.
1986 Charles W. Tarlton
1987 James P. O’Brien
1988 Kimble “Jay” Reynolds Jr.
1989 Greg Battaglia
1990 William D. Tyrrell Jr.
1991 Paula Radcliffe
1992 Melissa E. Byrne
1993 Beth L. Rexroad
1994 Keith C. “Casey” Coutray
1995 Shannon P. Milliken
1996 T. Rutherford Watkins III
1997 James P. O’Connell
1998 Jennifer B. Ginther
1999 Raphael Castillejo
2000 Lauren Esleeck
2001 Jonathan Harmer
2002 Erin Miller
2003 Grant Hill
2004 Nicole Reynolds
2005 Robyn Daniel
2006 Sumeet Bagai
2007 Russell Davis
2008 Michael Dunleavy
2009 Adeel Khan
2010 Brian Golden
2011 Nathan Lavinka
2012 Sandy Bass
2013 Tyler Campbell
2014 Jay Michael Tucker
2015 Jean-Luc Ford
2016 Luke Carroll
2017 Pat Finn
2018 Chris Saunders
2019 Billy Lin
2020 Greg Klatt
2021 Grant Bommer
2022 Danielle Panico
2023 Prince Wang