By Mia Agee
Copywriter
Cailsey Scott joined the Student Government Association, or SGA, when she was just a freshman. Though it is uncommon for freshmen to be on the SGA council, Scott got approved and started as a student liaison.
She took notes and attendance during meetings—her “foot in the door,” as she called it. Now, Scott is the SGA vice president, and she oversees campus clubs and the SGA elections.
SGA elections for the executive council are coming up in March, and most of the positions will be filled by new people, as the majority of the positions are currently held by seniors, such as Scott.
There are two processes for SGA elections, according to Morgan Morris, director of student life. The first part of the process is for the SGA executive council, or Associated Student Body (ASB), and the second part is the SGA general council elections. The ASB consists of nine student leaders either appointed or elected to represent the entire student body.
These nine positions are ASB president, vice president, chaplain, director for social life, director for marketing and communications, director for inclusion and belonging, director for intramurals, TrevEchoes editor-in-chief and DARDA editor-in-chief.
Five of these positions are elected, meaning they go through the process of being voted on by the whole student body. The other four are appointed positions, which means they go through an application and interview process, said Morris.
The four appointed positions are the director for inclusion and belonging, director for intramurals, TrevEchoes editor-in-chief and DARDA editor-in-chief.
Though most executive positions are held by juniors or seniors, sophomores can still run for the positions. There is one sophomore on the executive team this year, but for the most part, upperclassmen fill the executive roles.
Since there tend to be many seniors that serve in the executive roles, new leadership is common on the executive council. Because of this, the goals and vision of the student government evolve each year with the new ideas and perspectives from the new leaders, according to Morris.
“Almost everyone but three people are graduating from the executive council,” said Gigi Jerezano, ASB president. “I think we’re going to have like maybe one or two returners out of the nine.”
According to Morris, SGA is always looking for strategies to make the student government and the way it functions better, so they annually review the Constitution for the Student Government Association.
“We look and see if there are any job descriptions that need to be updated or processes and procedures that need to be updated,” said Morris.
There is always the possibility that the council wants to make changes to the Constitution and that those changes are then voted on by the student body. Those proposed changes would then be added to the ballot that the general council and coordinators are voted on.
Its mission and values, however, generally stay the same even with the new leadership.
“We may see small changes like little tidbits or details of job descriptions. Or we may see some bigger changes like ‘whose job does what?’ or ‘what is the process for X, Y and Z?’” said Morris.
All students who are interested in running for either the executive or general council must have a clean judiciary record. Executive council members are required to have a 2.5 GPA or higher while general council members are required to have a 2.0 GPA or higher, according to Jerezano and Scott.
The general counsel elections will happen later in the semester. The director for marketing and communication and the director for social life are part of this election process.
Applications for SGA executive positions are due at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Campaigning begins Tuesday, Feb. 28, and speeches begin the night of Monday, March 13.
The ballots will be open that week for students to cast their votes.
