Students had the opportunity to voice their opinions to Student Government Association last week.
Members of SGA addressed the student body in the State of the Students at 6 p.m. Friday in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
Tyler Patton, mass communications senior and SGA chief of staff, said the purpose of the event was to inform the students of what SGA has been doing and to be transparent.
Jordan Tarter, English senior and SGA president, began the event with a speech.
“I’m very proud of this group, and I’m very happy to be a part of a student government here that is so eager to serve,” Tarter said. “SGA began this academic year by putting its focus on inclusivity, transparency, environmental sustainability, and putting the students first.”
Tarter also spoke about events SGA hosted last semester.
Mackenzie Jones, dance senior, attended the State of the Students.
“They are doing a good job at introducing new events,” Jones said. “They touched on diversity tonight, which I think is a huge issue in this country right now.”
Jones said she attended the event to ask officials questions about the allotment process for student organizations.
“It’s better to get your question asked out in the open versus over email,” she said.
Sen. David Hall (music) told Jones students wouldn’t see any money they request from allotments until the next year.
Austin Gipson-Black, vice president of Student Senate, addressed concerns about allotment confirmations coming later than expected.
“Student Senate didn’t meet quorum for two meetings in December, so the Student Senate was not able to pass the allotments,” Gibson-Black said. “We did, however, meet last Tuesday and pass those allotments. President Tarter signed those on Friday.”
To combat not meeting quorum, Gipson-Black said some senators suggested reducing unexcused absences from three to one or two.
Tarter also spoke to the students about the camera installed in Cokesbury Court Clubhouse.
“This camera will give us the ability to capture images of the license plates of every car that enters through the gate,” Tarter said. “After an unfortunate kidnapping attempt took place in our community last spring, SGA elected to respond to this unsettling situation and contribute to the security of our fellow students by funding this camera from our reserves.”
After OCU officials notified students of the tuition increase through an email during winter break, Tarter said she began communicating with the president’s office about a forum for students.
“SGA has been listening to your concerns on this and we are taking action. I’ve been meeting with Martha Burger and collaborating with student philanthropy in order to host a public interview which will give the students the answers that they have been asking for,” she said.
Tarter responded to a student question about the date of the meeting.
“We are still scheduling meetings. I’ve been working on this through break, but hopefully after this Thursday, we will have a really good, solid plan,” she said.
Another initiative SGA is interested in working on is bringing American Sign Language classes to OCU. Alison Sloan, SGA public relations secretary and acting junior, posted on the OCU Facebook page asking if students would be interested in an ASL language credit class. The post received more than 100 likes and 60 comments, all of which were positive. Tarter said, if they can’t implement a class, they would look to start an ASL club.
SGA is trying to improve environmental sustainability at OCU, Tarter said. After SGA allocated funds to Young Democrats to buy recycling bins for Methodist Hall, she said students were not properly using the bins or taking care of them, so the bins were removed and put into storage.
“We’ve faced trials and errors and we are diligent in our efforts to continue the Blue Goes Green initiative and hope to find a solution that works to continue to better these efforts,” she said. “I’ve been meeting with students from several organizations in order to find a way to bring more recycling to campus.”
Teddy Edgar, music theater/vocal performance junior, said he attended the event to be more informed.
“I just want to be more a part of what’s going on on campus. I feel like I’ve been such a passive student here, not really engaging,” he said.
Edgar said most issues in SGA could stem from communication.
“There was a certain group of people who have been elected to the same issues over and over, so there’s been a lot of backlash for Jordan and a few other new people which is causing a lot of problems with getting things done,” he said.
The event was overall positive, Patton said.
“Not everything runs smoothly, and there are bumps in the road, and I feel like the students did get some good answers to the questions they’ve been asking and the concerns that they’ve had,” he said.
Edgar compared SGA’s success with that of the United States’ government.
“I think we’re doing good so far. I mean we don’t have a government shutdown,” he said.
Tarter said she looks forward to a positive future with OCU.
“I’m so grateful to be able to serve at a school which prides itself in hard work, helping others, and continuously striving to do and be better,” Tarter said.
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