SGA Weekly: Show Your Appreciation

Dear MiddKids, 

To begin, thank you to all who voted and participated in this year’s SGA Elections & Referendum. We had an outstanding turnout: 1,730 out of 2,532 students voted (that’s 68 percent, more than voter turnout for national U.S. elections)! Congratulations to all those who have been elected to SGA positions for the coming year!

SGA Cabinet: 

Cabinet committees are continuing to work on final initiatives for this year, many of which were mentioned in last week’s column. The Cabinet April Monthly Report will be published soon on the SGA website at go/sga (www.middsga.com) under Archives.

SGA Senate: 

Topic of the Week: This week, the SGA has decided to focus student engagement and opinions on one topic — staff appreciation. This was decided in light of Staff Appreciation Day coming up on 4/30 (next Monday) and recent discussions about student-staff relations and staff equity at Middlebury. SGA senators will be working to speak with students on this topic and looking for students to submit recorded thank-you videos to staff at go/thankyoustaff. Please show your appreciation and help out!

Both “Resolution in Support of Action Against Systematic, Institutional Racism Resulting in Gun Violence” and “Resolution in Support of Middlebury Students Against Gun Violence” were passed in SGA Senate this past Sunday. Many SGA senators were hesitant for the SGA to release political statements, so certain sections of both bills were amended. Now, both bills will be forwarded to relevant offices on campus including the Admissions Office, General Counsel, Communications Office, Dean of Students, Diversity & Inclusivity Office, Parton Health Center and more to implement. The final versions of these two bills are available on the SGA website. Sponsors of these bills were Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Cowan and President Jin Sohn.

“Proposal for Increase of Student Wellbeing”: This bill was once again discussed in Senate. Much of what was stated in last week’s column regarding this bill still remains. The bill addresses multiple areas that impact student wellbeing including dining, libraries, the Student Health & Wellness Office and the Faculty Educational Affairs Committee. Further, some of these recommendations may actually be accomplished through other means as well. The draft of this bill is available on the SGA website, and I highly encourage you to take a look and speak with Junior Senator Kailash Raj Pandey, sponsor of this bill, or your senators about your thoughts. Where would you like to see more resources for student wellbeing on campus? The Senate will continue to discuss the bill next week. 

Upcoming Events to Keep in Mind:

Staff Appreciation Day is 4/30 (next Monday)! Keep submitting those thank-you video submissions at go/thankyoustaff and volunteer to help out with the Staff Appreciation Dinner at go/signupservestaff. Students can help to set up, serve or clean up. We are also particularly in need of students with babysitting experience and who are interested in helping to babysit at the dinner. Thanks in advance to all those that help!

It Happens Here (IHH) is “an anti-sexual violence campaign that collects anonymous student stories to raise awareness to the frequency and severity of sexual violence on college campuses,” and will be on May 1st (next Tuesday) at Wilson Hall, 8 p.m. For story submissions, please check out go/ihh2018/. If you are interested in reading a story at the event, contact Taite Shomo at tshomo@middlebury.edu for more information. SGA SRR is working on more programming that will also take place on May 1st to support IHH, so please keep an eye out for their work!

As always, all past and current bills (including the ones mentioned above) are accessible at go/sga under Weekly Updates and/or Archives. Please continue to reach out to your respective senators or to SGA with any questions, concerns or comments. Also, SGA Senate meetings have been relocated to Axinn 220 for the remainder of the semester. SGA Senate meetings are every Sunday from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Enjoy the sunshine, and as we approach the final weeks of the semester please remember to take moments for self-care as well!

Jin Sohn is SGA President.