As part of SGA week, members from Tech’s Student Government Association participated in a series of events in an effort to reach out to constituents. The purpose of these was to make students aware of their representatives and to receive ideas from the student body.
“SGA week is a time that we concentrate our efforts to show what we are doing for students and make them feel more welcome to approach us,” said Brooke McDaniel, Vice President for Communications and third-year MGT major.
As part of the events held during the week, SGA organized a carnival on Skiles Walkway on Monday where students could meet and interact with representatives and members of the Executive Cabinet. Students were also invited to participate in a moderated open forum during the meeting of the Undergraduate House of Representatives.
“We held an open forum event last year, but it wasn’t moderated so students that attended didn’t speak up as much. This year we had people speak, share their concerns and get a chance to see how we work,” McDaniel said.
Among the topics brought up by students during the discussion were increased security for studios in the College of Architecture, a switch to a trimester system and the possibility of inviting organizational representatives to answer questions regarding their request the week prior to the when the bill is discussed. Students also participated in a sticky-note campaign at the library and in the Student Center, through which they could share their input on campus issues. The content of the sticky notes was posted online on SGA’s Facebook page.
“We got a lot of responses out of the sticky-note campaign. Almost every major issue on campus was hit: the issue of more green space, construction [and] dining hall issues,” said Hunter Hammond, the Public Relations Chair and second-year MGT major.
Members of the executive cabinet also met with students at the dining halls on Wednesday evening. SGA also hosted an event called “Communicate with Corey” on Thursday, during which students could meet with Undergraduate Student Body President Corey Boone.
According to Hammond, SGA will take steps to use the information gathered during SGA Week to act on different campus issues.
“We want to make sure that [for] each issue that was addressed that we have people who are discussing it and we have action taken on it,” Hammond said. “Once we reach consensus on those issues we will communicate that out to the student body.”
SGA Week concluded on Friday with an event to increase breast cancer awareness.