SGA announces reorganization

Milligan’s Student Government Association is restructuring its organization into three subcommittees in order to increase “its efficiency and influence” within the student body, according to SGA President Rachel Cunningham.

In last Tuesday’s first meeting of the semester, SGA’s executive council announced that the changes in format will begin immediately. One of the most important changes being made this year is the way the members are organized. Each member of SGA, whether he or she is a class president or a club’s chairman, will be assigned to one of three subcommittees: finance/business, campus ministry and student life.

“I think that the new subcommittees are going to work out just fine,” said junior class representative Randall Moore. “Having emphasis on being more structured is vital because it makes sure that SGA will perform their duties the best way we can.”

Each subcommittee will meet separately during the meetings to go over bills and issues. For example, the finance/business subcommittee will meet to discuss budget decisions. The groups will then come back together to vote on the bill as a whole.

Cunningham hopes that this format will help to involve more of the members in the process instead of just the executive council. Saving time in meetings by dividing into subcommittees will increase SGA’s effectiveness as a student government as well.

Senior class president Todd Davis will lead the business/finance subcommittee, assisted by freshman class president Sam Belmar. Junior class president Tim Cassens and sophomore class president Reese Cubol will head the student life subcommittee.

Juniors Isaac Schade and Beth Harkey have been added to SGA as the co-chairs of the campus ministry subcommittee. Not only will they be involved with strengthening the importance of campus ministry to Milligan’s students, but they will also be leading SGA in devotionals during the meetings.

“The changes came because we felt that SGA was not really as influential as it could be,” said Cunningham. By becoming involved in areas that SGA was not previously involved in, such as campus ministry, SGA’s influence throughout the campus should increase.

Other differences include having SGA meet on off-convocation Tuesdays instead of Tuesday nights so that all members will be able to attend. This structure will hopefully eliminate most of the conflicts that students had with the previous meeting time. Although the amount of time spent in meetings will be cut in half, dividing up into subcommittees will allow SGA to triple the amount of business they cover in a meeting. Because of this structure, committee chairs, such as the coordinator for academic affairs or concert council, are now required to attend at least one meeting a month. Also, meetings have been moved and will be held in SUB 7.

Cunningham stated that, despite the format changes, SGA’s budget will remain the same.
“These decisions were student led,” said Cunningham. “We worked with some administration who gave some advice and direction, but the executive council came up with the plan and put everything into action.”

Members of SGA spent last Friday night and Saturday morning at Laurel Fork Lodge to work out the new organization as well as to connect as a body.