Q&A with 2004-2005 SGA President Rachel Cunningham

Reporter

What have you accomplished this past year as SGA Vice President that you plan on continuing next year?
Some of the changes that occurred in SGA last year included the new PR position, which has been a very good addition and the (SGA) Web site, which was completed by the PR representative. I also organized the blood drives, which included a switch from the Red Cross to the Marsh Run Regional Blood Center.

You were involved in the Studen Leader Ambassador Program (SLAP) program, can you tell me more about this and how that turned out this year?
SLAP … is basically a day where high school leaders (usually student councils) come to campus to spend time with our SGA. They talk to the executive council about some things that they do in their school, problems they have and activities that we do here that they could do. Then they attend our meeting to see how a college student government works. We had a group scheduled to come last week, but they had some scheduling conflicts and weren’t able to make it. Hopefully, they’ll be here later in the semester.

Are there any new ideas for next year’s administration that you’re planning?
Some improvements I have planned for next year’s administration include tighter communication between committee chair people and executive council. There are so many things we could be doing with our clubs and organizations that we aren’t right now because it’s easy to lose contact.
I would like to include prayer as a stronger force in the council. We are working on a Student Leadership conference for next year. This would take place over a weekend where we would invite several other schools to participate. I would also like to strengthen the bond between students and administration. This is a complaint that we hear from students often, so I will work with my council to fix this problem.

You said listening to students and getting their input is very important to you. How are you planning on getting input from students for next year?
The “surprise” open forum at Opie's (Pizza) is something that we would like to repeat. Also, we are working on setting up either a list serve or an area on our Web site where students can voice concerns. I have also considered having SGA meetings in more accessible places (the cafeteria during dinner for instance or SUB 7) to encourage more students to attend.

What individual strengths do the members of your council add to the administration, and how do you plan to accentuate these strengths?
I think the strongest thing about our entire council this year is that it represents a wide range of the student body. This will allow us to hear the range of opinions on campus. I will be encouraging individual participation in meetings with more of a discussion atmosphere, so that all these opinions can be heard.

What feedback have you gotten from students about your plans for next year?
I have heard very positive things from the students. Several people have offered to help, and it seems like communication lines between the student body and SGA will be very open next year!