The Student Association’s 53rd legislation kicked off this semester with President Kevin Clayton at the helm, planning to begin a better relationship with the student body, increase their presence on campus and reconnect with clubs, Greek organizations and Residence Life.
“We want to focus on connecting with the students more,” Clayton said.
Stressing that he wants to focus on getting out of the office, Clayton said he believes “soliciting feedback and finding out when we dropped the ball, so we can fix it,” will lead to better relations between the SA and the campus community.
As far as changes that can be expected from the SA this semester, Clayton reiterated the importance of connecting with students and said people should expect to interact with SA members much more than in the past.
“We will be spending time doing some training this weekend,” Clayton said. “We do our best in this area, but there is still some fine-tuning to be done.”
Greek life relations will also be at the forefront of the SA’s focus this semester. Clayton said miscommunication between the two have led to confusion in the past, specifically regarding monetary requests from Greek organizations that must be approved by the SA. There is a limited amount of money available for Greek organizations, Clayton said, and that limit is dependent upon the insurance company and their policies. Clayton’s goal is to clarify these guidelines, and inform Greek organizations about “what we can and can’t do.”
The SA’s goal to become more involved on campus has solicited a positive response from students on campus, including PSUC senior Rachel Cusick, who is also a member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority.
Cusick said she believes that seeing SA members more on campus and having more opportunities to communicate with them would make students “more willing to want to help” with the SA’s activities.
SA Senator Tyler Hargraves also believes that “connecting with the students” will be one of the SA’s main focuses this semester.
Like Clayton, Hargraves said that the biggest change the student body can expect to see from the SA is an increase in the amount of time members spend talking with the student body and better responses to their needs and concerns.
“Our main goal this semester,” Hargraves said, “is getting in front of the students.”
Those interested in joining the SA can stop into the SA office, located on the second floor of the Angell College Center, or attend one of their biweekly meetings, held Monday and Wednesday nights at 10:15 p.m.
Email Thomas Marble at thomas.marble@cardinalpointsonline.com.
