You may or may not have noticed, but student leaders are campaigning for positions in the SHSU Student Government Association (SGA).As a candidate for SGA President, I feel that the students of this university should be informed of the decisions made by those who have the job of representing them. SGA is made up of 45 senators and five officers charged with being the “voice of the students”.
However, if you asked the students of this university what SGA does for them, they will most likely respond that SGA is the organization that gave them a free notebook, T-shirt or pen. Most students are unaware of the many important issues that SGA is involved with each semester from student parking to food services to Health Center fees.
Each time SGA passes legislation, those voting on each issue are supposed to represent their respective colleges or constituencies. However, if students do not know what decisions SGA is making, how can SGA be representative of the students at SHSU? No matter what SGA does, if the students don’t know about it and aren’t aware what’s going on in their behalf, this is equivalent to the SGA accomplishing nothing (and that’s certainly NOT the case). It’s up to the SGA elected representatives to make sure that students ARE aware of decisions affecting them.
Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” As SGA president, I would work to bring back the League of Organizations to our campus as a forum of discussion about issues important to student organizations and as another avenue of communication between the SGA and students on our campus. To further communicate with students, I would ensure there was better communication between SGA and the organizations. I would also explore increased SGA visibility in the campus newspaper, Today @ SAM, Cable Channel 7 and in the LSC Mall Area.
I have enjoyed serving as an SGA senator from the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the SGA Executive Board as SGA Secretary this school year. I would like to have the opportunity to continue to work with the SGA officers and senators, university administration and staff, and campus organizations to make SGA more proactive and responsive to the needs of all students at our university. I promise to work very hard on your behalf. If you feel I am a candidate worth supporting, please vote for me, Jason Plotkin for 2003-2004 SGA president on April 23 and 24 on the SHSU Web site.