President-elect Jazmin Darjean’s win in the unopposed race for student body president in the 113th Student Senate Election on April 9 made history. Darjean will become SMU’s first female Black student body president when she is sworn in on April 21.
Darjean said that although she ran uncontested, the news felt unreal when she received President Will Leathers’ call notifying her that she had won.
“Immediately when I got the call from Will yesterday, I was like ‘Wait, this is real, and it’s about to happen and I’m very excited about it,” Darjean said. “I did run unopposed, yes, but I also feel like I’ve prepared myself well in the roles that I’ve been in, and it’s officially happening.”
On becoming the first Black woman elected to this role, Darjean believes this is a meaningful opportunity showing the progress SMU has made since electing David Huntley, the first Black student body president in 1978.
“It means a lot, honestly. I’m really excited at the opportunity just to serve all students in general, but I also think it means a lot about how far SMU has come,” Darjean said. “I know that our first Black student body president, Mr. Huntley, he was president [in the late 70s,] It’s really just showing there’s been a lot of great progress here at SMU.”
Serving all Mustangs is Darjean’s focus as she enters her presidency.
“Although I am the first Black female, at the end of the day, my passion in who I’m going to serve is just students in general,” Darjean said. “I’m very proud of my background and identities. I do think that the main thing I want to focus on is that I am an SMU student first, especially when it comes to being in the role of president, that’s what’s important to me.”
Darjean was first elected to the Student Senate as a first-year senator from 2023-2024. She then served as a pre-major senator from 2024-2025 and was elected in April 2025 to serve in her current role as student body vice president.
Throughout her time in senate, Darjean passed resolutions to help create the newly established Judicial Branch (SR-112-13), establish constituent-senator groups on SMU360 (SR-112-19) and increase campus lighting (SR-111-14).
On campus, she is currently a Student Representative to the Board of Trustees on the Student Affairs Committee and a member of the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Student Advisory Board. Last year, she was the Tate Lecture chair for Student Foundation.
Sophomore Bianca Ihekwoaba voted in this year’s election and was excited to learn about her win.
“I saw her campaign last year for [vice president.] I was happy that she ran unopposed this year, which meant that she had a higher chance of becoming president,” Ihekwoaba said. “I feel like it takes a lot to be able to get that title here at SMU.”
As a woman of color on campus, Ihekwoaba feels encouraged by Darjean’s accomplishment.
“It means that if I wanted to, I could too,” Ihekwoaba said. “It’s hard being able to think that you could achieve things without seeing someone before you, and even though Jazmin didn’t see anyone before her, I’m happy that she was able to believe and get there.”
Speaker of the Student Senate Daniel Gonzalez, who was elected as the First Generation Senator in this week’s race, is looking forward to seeing Darjean’s continued leadership within senate.
“I was speaker this year, so I worked very closely with Jazmin,” Gonzalez said. “I know that she’s going to put a lot of effort into her work this coming year, and I’m excited to see what she accomplishes.”
Gonzalez sees Darjean and Vice President-elect Owen Bartosh as a team that will lead well together.
“Both of them are very intelligent people, and I know the both of them together are going to work to make [an] actual impact on campus,” Gonzalez said.
President Leathers, as well as former President Michael Castle from 2024-2025, have passed on words of wisdom to Darjean.
“In general, they’ve both really prepared me through my time in senate,” Darjean said. “I think the main thing I took away, especially from Michael, was that you’re not necessarily going to put your hands in every single project, but how are you supporting [senators] in their projects and in their legislation.”
Energized by this win, Darjean is ready to start running with the 113th Student Senate to advocate for students across the university.
“I’m going to have a really great executive cabinet and also great senators who are going to be in the room as well, that I think will really hit the ground running and make some great progress throughout the year,” Darjean said. “I’m really excited to get to know more people [around campus and] be better connected within the SMU community.”
Chloe Casdorph contributed to this story.
The DC confirmed Darjean’s position as the first Black woman elected to student body president by examining past student leadership and editions of the Rotunda yearbook.
