Newly inaugurated SGA executives plan to continue the work of last semester’s SGA administration.
SGA inaugurated President Reid Powell, political science junior, and Vice President Brittany Wyatt, political science/philosophy sophomore, after former SGA President Abby Banks resigned. Banks said she submitted her resignation on Nov. 5. Powell and Wyatt were sworn in the following Monday, Nov. 9.
Banks said she is happy for Powell and Wyatt and is excited to see what they will do in their new positions.
“I’m extremely proud of both of them for taking on this role despite, obviously, it coming a little bit faster than I think both of them might have expected,” she said. “At the end of the day, I know they are going to do a great job, and I just cannot express how appreciative I am of them for displaying their leadership skills in a time that this university needed it.”
Powell said he, Wyatt and Caleb Evans, SGA secretary of policies and initiatives, will be continuing and expanding the initiatives that were being worked on by Banks, such as the Pads and Tampons initiative, an initiative to make menstrual products available in bathrooms at OCU, and the Let’s Talk initiative, which will discuss mental health with students and ways to connect students to the proper channels if they are experiencing difficulties with their mental health and well-being. Powell said the initiatives will hopefully be launched during the first week of classes in January.
Powell said he is also working with Patricia Ashford, SGA secretary of diversity and inclusion, to start a diversity roundtable with representation from different organizations and students with various backgrounds across campus.
“That’s going to be a really exciting initiative to see, so that we can make sure that we are representing and advocating for all students on our campus and that we are addressing the needs and concerns there,” he said.
Ashford said the purpose of the roundtable is to amplify and collect voices from across the campus populace into one place to discuss issues around campus.
“As we are having these conversations, there would be someone taking notes,” Ashford said. “And it would be something that we could report back to SGA, so kind of like a ‘state of the campus.’”
Ashford said they are still in the planning phases of the roundtable, but they are hoping to start the roundtable in February before the next SGA election.
Powell also said he and Wyatt are working with Loren Matrone, SGA secretary of public relations, and Anna Gordon, SGA social media coordinator, to rebrand and improve SGA’s outreach on their social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, especially after experiencing how the COVID-19 pandemic affected students’ ability to access the campus and SGA.
“Our biggest change in this rebrand is really to increase accessibility, so to get what we are trying to do, our initiatives, our mission, to those students that we might not be reaching because of the pandemic,” Matrone said.
Wyatt said one of her focuses for this semester was to continue the initiative started last semester by Powell to create student caucuses on various subjects that students are passionate about, such as dining, housing services and disability services. Wyatt said she also wants to increase SGA transparency for students and student organizations so students understand who their representatives are and SGA’s role in serving students.
“This means giving them information on bill funding requests and resolutions and things like that: who their senators are and who to reach out to,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt said she is excited to get started as the new SGA vice president.
“Coming from a senate position to vice president is a really awesome and cool transition for me, and it has just really grown me as a person and my love for OCU,” Wyatt said.
For more information on SGA and other student organizations, visit okcu.campuslabs.com/engage. Powell and Wyatt can be contacted at SGAPresident@okcu.edu and SGAVP@okcu.edu respectively for any questions.
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