SGA aims to engage student body First meeting introduces Board chairman to Senate

Author: Zamir Ahmed

Increased transparency of the organization and a renewed focus on the passage and implementation of bills were two of the main points discussed at the opening meeting of the Student Government Association (SGA) on Oct. 1. The meeting served as the first chance for the SGA to lay out its agenda for the year and to hear Chairman of the Board of Trustees Frederick Fritz '68 and Vice President of Academic Affairs Alison Byerly speak about items discussed at last weekend's meeting of the Board of Trustees.

The SGA had to actively recruit candidates to run in last week's SGA election, which had only one contested race. In an effort to overcome student apathy, SGA President Alex Stanton has already established a blog and created office hours for students to share their ideas.

Some Senators also believe that questions about how the SGA works need to be addressed for students to become interested in the organization.

"One of the main questions asked by students about SGA is 'what actually happens, and how does it happen?'" said Brainerd Commons Senator Chester Harvey '09. "By making Senate and committee meetings more accessible to the student body, we can invite our constituencies to stop by and see for themselves how bills are passed and budgets are assigned. We all learn best through participation."

Among the ideas discussed by the Senators at the first meeting were broadening the range of opportunities offered by the Career Services Office and expanding student e-mail boxes. The first priority of the SGA remains the completion of the SafeRides initiative, which has been on the table since Spring 2006.

"SafeRides has the potential to be a highly influential and effective piece of legislation if it is properly implemented," said Harvey.

In previous years, a problem of the SGA has been the implementation of Senate bills, according to Stanton. In an effort to curb the problem, Stanton created two new Cabinet positions last spring, Co-Chiefs of Planning and Implementation (CPI), with the full approval of the Senate. The positions, currently held by Alina Levina '09 and Antoinette Rangel '09, will focus specifically on devising a strategy for the execution of prospective bills.

"I expect my two CPIs to keep a portfolio of all legislation passed by the Senate," said Stanton. "I hope that the creation of these two new positions, along with a new SGA Senate with fresh ideas, will eradicate our prior problems of putting our legislation into practice. Certainly, the more concrete progress we are able to make this year the better off all Middlebury students will be."

Previous legislation passed by the SGA will be going into effect later this week as newspaper service will return to the dining halls. Senators brainstormed ideas at the Oct. 1 meeting on ways to keep the newspapers from clogging the dining halls and angering employees. For now Stanton hopes the program will make a positive impact on the impression students have of the SGA.

"I think that the newspaper program is representative of many problems the SGA has faced in the past," said Stanton. "A majority of Middlebury students have probably picked up a free newspaper in a dining hall, taken a shuttle bus to New York or Boston, or listened to a song from Napster or FreshTracks. All of these are SGA administered programs. It is very important that we continue to provide these services to the student body and it is my hope that students remember where they come from."