EDITORIAL: What we want to see in the next SGA administration
The student body is deciding who will serve as the next president and vice president of the Central Michigan University Student Government Association.
As an organization, it’s important that SGA is in touch with students' concerns and needs.
This year, SGA created initiatives that help students. Projects such as a tampon initiative, which provided free tampons to four on-campus bathrooms, helped women on campus so they didn’t ever have to ask someone for a feminine product, or pay for one in the bathrooms. The creation of a food pantry on campus made progress toward tackling food insecurity that college students face.
These initiatives have made a difference and we are thankful for them. But as the results come in for who will serve as the next administration of SGA, we have some ideas for what we would like to see accomplished and focused on in the next academic year.
We want to see more legislation that directly applies to students. For example, the recent “A Resolution in Support of the Revision of Commencement Ceremony Ticket Redistribution” that was introduced is proposing a regulated ticket pool system for commencement tickets. This is looking at a looming problem that all students face every year, and providing a probable solution for it. We need more initiatives like this. More tangible, relevant legislation is important.
We want to see the administration represent the student body first. We, as students, must be the priority. Don’t let CMU’s administration sway proposals and opinions. We want to see SGA reach out to students more to get their opinions and perspectives on issues happening on campus. Branch out farther than just the senators and representatives who choose to participate in SGA. There are many students who care about the culture of this campus, even if they aren’t involved in SGA. Find a way to get to those people and have their voice heard.
Hold our administrators at CMU accountable. We want to see the SGA push the university administration to be transparent about the recent imposed $225 Student Service Fee and explain to students what that money exactly goes toward. The president and vice president of SGA have the power to make a statement urging administrators to be open about that fee, and should utilize that opportunity to be the student voice.
We also want the SGA administration to do something more to raise awareness preventing sexual assault on campus. Something more than the “Stamp Out Aggression” campaign. Rather than gathering signatures condemning sexual assault, we would like to see more outreach to students about resources on campus and informing them what to do if ever in that situation.
SGA hosted a bystander event in January, and the only people who showed up were people in SGA and Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates (SAPA). Reach out to more people outside the inner SGA circle.
We are excited to see who will lead the next SGA administration.
We hope they take these ideas into consideration. We want to see a student government that always strives to make campus a better place for students.
