The UF Senate extended its regular Tuesday night meeting to induct the newly elected college senators and to say goodbye to outgoing senators, almost one week after Vision party won all seats in an entirely uncontested Spring election.
The Senate voted to unanimously approve all new elected members. Matthew Bravo, Donovon Francois and Marco Salvador were also officially announced as the new student body executives, with Supervisor of Elections Lexi Sederopoulos verifying the results before the cabinet.
Bravo, a 21-year-old UF history and political science junior, served as the Senate president pro-tempore under Senate President Maya Idiculla during the 2025-2026 academic year. Bravo has held multiple other seats in the Senate, like Senate judiciary chairman, freshman class president and vice president for the sophomore and junior classes. Now, he will serve as student body president.
Bravo said his goodbyes to his Senate position during his final executive officer report despite being barely able to speak due to recent radiation therapy. He explained how it's part of the treatment for his Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes, and how he only has around one more radiation therapy session left.
Bravo thanked his mentors, mentees, friends in the Senate and “everyone else who supported him and believed in him during tough times.”
With the end of term for the current Senate president, members voted to elect business management and economics senior Aaron Rubaii as the new Senate president.
At the meeting, Rubaii highlighted initiatives he aims to add, including adding a public notice and feedback form to the SG website, and increasing community involvement by participating in more service initiatives through the senate nonprofit spotlight.
Donovan Francois, a UF health education and behavior junior and new student body vice president, was not present at the meeting. Francois has been a member of multiple leadership development organizations at UF. He has never taken a role in the UF Senate but has served as the president of the Theta Sigma chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Marco Salvador, a 20-year-old UF political science junior, has taken multiple other roles in both the Senate and Vision party, including the budget and appropriations committee chairman, deputy majority leader and former policy chair. He will now serve as treasurer.
Salvador used his executive officer report time to thank all those who helped him in achieving his goals and to give advice to the next generation of student senators. He also took time to reflect on the sense of belonging he felt after joining Senate.
“A feeling of belonging isn’t something you can extract like words from pages, you have to feel it in your heart,” he said.
Before the meeting began, two people shared their thoughts on Vision being the only party in the Senate and what it meant for the future of SG.
Kayla Arora, a 15-year-old educational sciences freshman, echoed her previous grievances about the Senate.
“Almost all the bills passed that actually did anything for the general public were passed by the only independent in the Senate body,” Arora said.
Molly Murphy, a finance sophomore and the previous majority party leader, was elected to serve as president pro-tempore in the senate. As president pro-tempore, Murphy said she will prioritize efficiency by revising confusing codes, meeting with committee chairs more and making the transition process for summer senators smoother.
Contact Nevaeh Baker Harris at nbakerharris@alligator.org. Follow her on X @nbakerharris.
Nevaeh Baker Harris is a first-year sports and media journalism major and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Student Government reporter. In her free time, she enjoys watching medical dramas, reading horror novels, and listening to 90s rock music.
