Avast VCU! Take the helm of the SGA!

Eric Hill

Opinion Editor

Who is the Student Government Association president? How much money does the SGA oversee and administer? What projects are the SGA currently undertaking? All good questions, the answers to which can be found on vcusga.com, but these are questions hardly ever asked.

I don’t want to blame anyone here—as far as I am concerned, I think the SGA has done a pretty good job this year overhauling the VCU portal and e-mail service, expanding the Green Unity recycling program and organizing a rally against Ken Cucinelli’s hateful letter to Virginia universities (just a few of the things they’ve done). So what then, is the reason behind SGA’s low quantity of limelight?

Well VCU is big and a lot of students are hard to reach or are too busy to manage participating in complex planning events. Much of the SGA’s duties include doing routine paper work and administration, which can be tedious and time consuming. The SGA is also a bureaucracy, which means there are procedural guidelines that have to be followed.

So, short of having some radical new departure from procedure, how can we improve the participation of students in SGA events? How do we magnify the voice of the student body within the SGA to produce more fruitful ideas and actions? I have two suggestions.

1. Create a widely publicized town hall style meeting: It is an opportune time for incumbent SGA members and new SGA members to provide a platform and a vision that students can get behind. Spring election day is coming up soon, and to be honest, the election process is a little pathetic. Generally what I have seen is “popular” people attempting to get as many votes from their friends without saying precisely what they would like to do, or even whether or not they have any knowledge of VCU’s issues with the student body.

2. Create a tab on the VCU portlet that says, “What the SGA is doing TODAY.” Sure we have an events calendar, but the SGA is a central administrative body—it deserves its own tab at the very least. This could provide more in-depth descriptions of campus events, and serve as a notice for late-coming attendees of SGA events. By giving more easy opportunities for students to jump right into the action of an event, fewer people will be discouraged from being involved in student government for the long run.

Already the SGA has a number of excellent programs that could be expanded to accommodate more students if participation was to go up. For instance, the SGA book exchange program could save thousands of students hundreds of thousands of dollars if only more of the student body knew about it.

We must also consider the SGA as a point of organization for both cooperative and counter argument with VCU’s faculty and staff. With budget struggles aplenty, students’ individual or group dissatisfactions have less potency when they are separated by different leadership and informal presentation. If and when there are severe cuts in programs, raises in fees and other changes to VCU’s operation, student organizations and petitions should be able to hold a hearing with the SGA to moderate the debate.

I am willing to bet we can accomplish some great work improving both the quality of education at VCU and life here in Richmond.

Below is a list of the chief executive officers and the chief justice of the SGA. Email them to ask them how you can get funding or assistance for your project, attend a Presidential Roundtable, start a student organization, review SGA bylaws and procedures or inquire about current SGA projects.

President

Gabriel Walker

sgapresident@vcu.edu

Vice President

Roberto Celis

celisrf@vcu.edu

Executive Director

Bhami Davis

sgaexecdir@vcu.edu

Chief Judicial Officer

Joshua Maye

sgajud@vcu.edu

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