Your SGA President: An Introduction

Editor’s note: Nia Robinson is SGA President. This year, she will update students on all things SGA in this bi-weekly column. 

Welcome to the class of 2022 and welcome back to returning students! I hope you all had great summers — as hot as it was. This year, I will have a bi-weekly column in The Campus where I provide updates, talk about current initiatives, and share anything I think is useful for you all to know. 

A few weeks ago, I was talking with Erin Kelly-Weber, the SGA President at Monterey, and Jin Sohn, last year’s SGA President. Erin asked for our thoughts about what this year will look like. At the time, I didn’t have any predictions for the new year. For upperclassmen, our time at Middlebury has been eventful in many ways. It is hard to think about what could happen when anything can happen. The challenge is addressing the fissures we have experienced while welcoming new people. This offers a range of possibilities for what this year could look like. There are also unforeseen circumstances that can change the course of our predictions. 

With this, I think it is more useful to be proactive and focus on what we will do and want to do, rather than what we think is going to happen. What are we going to put in place before tensions boil over? 

I have many ideas for this year, but I am more excited to hear from students. Everyone is welcome at SGA Senate meetings — Sundays at 7 p.m. — and I invite you all to share your thoughts. At the SGA retreat before classes began, we discussed ways to increase channels of communication for students. The SGA is going to work to make sure students have enough ways to provide their thoughts and opinions. Whether this is through email, meetings, or running into each other in the dining hall, we hope that you all let us know how we can best work to improve Middlebury. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out — especially in this new semester! If anyone needs it, my email is nrobinson@middlebury.edu.

Nia Robinson is a member of the Middlebury College Class of 2019.