Of all the overworked and underappreciated organizations at SE, the Student Government Association probably receives the greatest amount of criticism.
SGA is constantly catching flack. Each year, students complain about homecoming and blame its faults on SGA. It is often said that SGA does a poor job of informing students, as well as organizing the events.
What students don’t realize is the immense amount of time and effort that goes into planning and supervising events like homecoming.
The members of SGA are regular students and, unless they hold an executive position, don’t get paid. These students volunteer their time and energy to this school and its students and get little in return.
The amount of hours spent planning homecoming is probably enough to constitute a full-time job. SGA starts planning months in advance, in addition to all their other duties.
First the members of SGA have to come up with a theme that they think students will enjoy. Then they must invent a variety of games that go along with the theme and write the rules for them.
In addition, they have to create a packet containing any information a student will need to know and then distribute the packets to the student body.
When the time comes to begin homecoming, their job duties include collecting packets, reviewing each float entry and collecting release forms from each and every student participating, just to name a few.
The work is not limited to preparation. There must also be at least one SGA member at each homecoming event to record scores and sweepstakes points.
This year the task of planning, organizing and supervising the events was left up to almost half the normal amount of senators, 11 students. Students like you, who are attending classes, trying to get their homework in on time and possibly working part-time or even full-time jobs.
Students like to blame SGA when events do not happen on time, but when an event goes off schedule, the cause is usually the participants—students forgetting their IDs or a team showing up late.
Homecoming isn’t the only task left to SGA. They are in charge of too many things around campus to list.
They are the voice of the student body, and students just don’t take advantage of it.
In the last election, only 140 people voted out of around 3,000 eligible voters. The link was on Blackboard, so it really could not have been easier to access.
Students just don’t realize how much SGA does for them. If you want something changed around campus, SGA is the organization that can help you.
For example, the gazebo behind North Hall was a dangerous eyesore before SGA pushed for it to be revamped. Now, students and student organizations can use it for cookouts and other events.
Another example of what SGA has done for students is the repainting of parking lines. SGA worked to have this done because the lines were faded and students were getting tickets because they couldn’t tell what was a parking space and what wasn’t.
Before you throw SGA under the bus, remember that they are here to make this school a better place.
And if you don’t like how they are doing things, maybe you should vote next time.