Yes, there was an increase in voting by students this year, but still only half the student body voted. So, to the other half of students who did not vote: I understand that it is sometimes hard to see what the Student Government Association actually does for students, but they do a lot.
To anyone who is a member of any organization on campus, they provide your funding for the year, and if your organization has an off-campus conference or service activity SGA votes to provide extra funding to help your members attend those off-campus events.
When the racial incidents occurred earlier this fall, SGA quickly responded, stating the acts were unacceptable on our campus. They invited President Leo Lambert and Smith Jackson, vice president and sean of Student Life to speak about what the administration was going to do, and SGA passed a bill in September that intended to emphasize the organization’s stance on the issue and to promote cultural awareness on campus.
These are only a few of the things that SGA does for the student body. I know these new candidates have spoken on platforms revolving around transparency and focusing more on issues that students actually want to see corrected or changed. So if you voted, these are the principles on which you voted for. If you did not, these are what the new administration hopes to accomplish. Whether you voted or not, the elected are the new faces of the student body. They are going to represent us for the next year. I think that these new candidates have already done a great job of getting their faces out to different organizations on campus. If they come to speak to you, hear them out because SGA really can make a difference for students, and hopefully this will convince you of the importance of your vote in the future elections.