The Student Government Association (SGA) holds its elections every spring semester.
It is tempting to look at the elections and think, “Who cares? SGA doesn’t do anything important for the university anyway, right?”
SGA handles many important topics that surround our campus. Whether you believe that SGA affects your college life or not, it still plays an integral role in making decisions that affect students.
SGA is supposed to be the voice of the student body. It is the key liaison between the students and administration.
In the past, SGA has handled legislation that has dealt with fees, such as the Green Fee. Students were polled and a majority favored having a $5 fee in place to support a Sustainability Center. SGA sponsored a bill that recommended the fee to administration.
The current assembly has dealt with legislation over parking ticket appeals, transportation on campus and inclement weather policy.
During my time in SGA as Speaker of the Senate during the 2017-2018 academic year, we passed bills that made changes to the university as well.
For example, the Senate crafted a bill that would allow students to wear non-academic stoles, cords and pins at graduation. The bill passed and has since been enacted by the university.
We also passed the bill that banned smoking on campus.
With these issues being discussed in the Senate, it’s important to pay attention to what is happening with the elections and who is running for the elected positions.
In order to understand why it is important, you need to know how the elections process works and some of the duties given to the members of SGA.
The Executive Council (EC) consists of the president, vice president and secretary general. Although the EC is not allowed to write bills, unless under certain circumstances stated in the SGA constitution, or vote on bills, they have an extremely important role in SGA and the university.
Senators are also important because they are the voice of the students within one of the five colleges that they represent.
In order for a person to be on the ballot for an Executive Council position, they must obtain 50 signatures on a petition. This ensures there are people who actually support the nomination. Senators have to receive 25 signatures.
Those running for election also have to pass a constitution test to prove they have a basic understanding of the organization and the duties that they will be responsible for carrying out.
In a contested election, a candidate has to receive 50 percent or more of the vote to win office. In an uncontested election, there is no minimum number of votes needed to win office. This means that if a person runs for office and no one is running against them, they automatically get the position.
As long as a person meets the requirements to run for an office, they can also run as many times for a position as they choose.
After winning an election, there are many duties that the members of SGA have to carry out.
The president is responsible for making appointments of several positions in SGA. He or she also acts as a voting member on the Board of Directors of the Student Activities Council (SAC), sits on several university committees, maintains at least 10 office hours a week and acts as a spokesperson on behalf of the students.
The vice president assumes the responsibilities of the president in circumstances mentioned in the constitution, is the advisor for Freshman Council and sees the progression and filing of any pieces of legislation that makes it way through the legislation process.
The secretary general is responsible for posting minutes and bills for the student body to view, is the chief record-keeper, presents the budget and authorizes all purchases and expenses for SGA under $100.
For an extensive list of duties for the EC and other members of SGA see the SGA page at http://www.utm.edu/departments/sga/ to find the SGA constitution.
The members of EC, for carrying out these duties, receive full tuition and a book scholarship of up to $500.
Legislative Council members, which include the committee chairs, Freshman Council, EC and others listed in the constitution, get a $500 book scholarship.
Senators and a few other positions, such as the Judicial Branch, receive no compensation for their office.
These scholarships come from the SGA budget which is allocated from the Program and Services fee. This fee also covers the Student Activities Council (SAC) and Campus Recreation, among other groups, found on the UTM website. The funds are allocated by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
However, there is a bill up for voting in Senate on March 28 that would decrease the amount of the scholarships given to the EC and give book scholarships to some of the positions that do not currently receive a scholarship like senators, justices and most Freshmen Council members.
With important legislation going through SGA, no term limits, no minimum number of votes to win if uncontested and a fee going towards paying SGA member’s scholarships, it is absolutely important that we pay attention to the elections.
Be informed by going to the candidate debates, keep up with the nominees on social media and be aware of who is representing you on and off of campus.
Being a member of SGA is a tough job. We, as the student body, need to participate in the process of choosing the right people to represent us.
Get out and vote in the elections on April 2. Your college experience depends on it.
