When SGA town hall meetings began in fall 2016, Elon University Class of 2018 Vice President Morgan Bodenarain was hesitant of the number of students attending and the overall effectiveness of these meetings. She knew reaching out to different parts of campus would be hard and did not know what to expect.

But the town halls began to grow, and Bodenarain has noted that they are now overflowing with students — more coming from the student body than from the Senate.

To her, this shows that the student body cares about the work SGA does.

“I think that’s awesome because not only do students get a chance to hear or see who is on the Senate, but we get a chance to hear what students are actually thinking,” Bodenarain said.

These meetings have opened dialogue within the student body and have dealt with topics that affect the community such as freedom of speech, Fraternity and Sorority Life and President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.

“Having this space where you can come and not just hear your thoughts being reflected back at you, but you can hear what other students are thinking, is really important,” Bodenarain said. “You can hear what other students are thinking that are not in your circle.”

Dean of Student Health and Wellness and SGA Faculty Advisor Jana Lynn Patterson believes the town hall meetings allow the student body to engage in dialogue on different issues in an environment that might not otherwise exist.

“It gives people a chance,” Patterson said. “We don’t have opportunities for students to come together to just talk ... in a place that is somewhat safe — even though we don’t agree with one another — [and where] people know that they’re going to be respected and that they’re gonna be heard.”

Besides the open communication, these meetings have also allowed the SGA Senate to hear from students and get their perspective.

“I want people to come and see what SGA can do and see how they can use SGA,” Bodenarain said. “I think that’s so important because we are representatives and we wanna do what you guys want.”

From this, students not only learn about SGA’s role on campus, but also are able to play an active role. These town hall meetings sometimes result in the drafting of legislation, which the SGA sponsors, and students in attendance can provide their input.

As numbers continue to increase at these meetings, there is still room for improvement for the upcoming semester and the new Senate.

Patterson said she would like to see “more diversity of thought.”

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 12.0px; font: 10.0px 'Minion Pro'} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

“I was more taken back that there were not a lot of people who had differing opinions than the one we did on freedom of speech,” Patterson said.