Applications for the 2015-2016 Undergraduate Student Government Association are available until March 23 at 4 p.m. and can be found on OrgSync or at the Office of Student Activities.
SGA members are selected each winter semester and include elected or appointed positions. Students interested in running for a position can run by themselves or as part of a ticket’s party.
Elected positions include president, vice president of judicial affairs, vice president of legislative affairs, international senator, commuter senator, non-traditional senator, minority senator, residential senators, athletic senators and IOC senators. Those running for an elected position must go through an interview process and fill out the application packet, which includes rallying 100 signatures of support from students.
Appointed positions include executive secretary, public relations director, campus entertainment director, treasure, organizational standards board, freshman senator and senate secretary. Students interested in obtaining an appointed position must fill out the application packet and go through the interview process, but they do not get elected by the student body, nor do they have to acquire 100 signatures of support.
Any student who is running for a position, whether it is elected or appointed, must attend an informational meeting to be eligible for a position. The meetings will be held on March 16 at noon in Room 104 of the Student Affairs building, March 17 at 5 p.m. in Rosenthal Room 200 and March 18 at noon in Rosenthal Room 200.
Undergraduate SGA President Kelly Scott, senior athletic training major, said SGA elections run very similarly to official U.S. elections. The tickets include students running for president, vice president of judicial affairs, and vice president of legislative affairs. People who are running for positions under a ticket’s campaign create a party, such as Scott’s Lego Party from last year’s election.
“A ticket consists of a president and two vice presidents running together, and once it is created, one person cannot be voted into office without the others,” Scott said.
Other people who are affiliated with the party will be voted on individually in the elections. Students running on a ticket must turn their applications in at the same time in the Office of Student Activities.
Scott said although students may choose to run for a position unaffiliated with a party, there are more benefits to being a part of a group campaign.
“It’s a little more difficult if it’s just you. Students tend to vote based on a party’s name because of the association they have with it. Campaigning is just easier with a ticket,” she said.
Scott is also one of four members of SGA’s Elections Commission, which created the application packet and ensures that students are eligible to run for a position and adhere to all of the guidelines. She said that there is no significant difference from last year’s application, but that students need to make sure to read through the entire packet before running in the election and answer all of the questions honestly.
“You need to convince people to vote for you,” Scott said. “It’s pretty tough to do, but I definitely recommend that students who are running have a very developed campaign plan and a ticket of students who are really involved.”
An email will be sent out on April 6 for students to vote for new SGA members. Voting will close on April 8, and the 2015-2016 SGA will be announced at the SGA Elections Party on the night of April 9.
The new members of SGA will officially begin their term on May 1 at the budget hearings.
Vice President of Legislation Haleigh Wilson, senior psychology major, said, ”This year, SGA has done a good job of producing quality pieces of legislation and has seen them through to make sure they are implemented on campus. I would challenge next year’s SGA to find changes that need to be made on campus and write the legislation to make that happen.”
For more information, contact the Office of Student Activities at 954-262-7288.
