Greetings, fellow Bearkats. I am Marcelo Pendleton and I am the current Student Government Association vice-president, who is running for re-election on Wednesday and Thursday April 15- 16. It has truly been an honor to serve the student body at Sam.
Upon arriving in Student Government, I focused on senators becoming proactive in their representative colleges. As vice-president, I have strengthened the visibility of the Student Government Association. I welcomed all student organizations with a friendly invitation to work alone aside of them, and as a result, the Student Government Association has formed working collaborations with various organizations across the campus. I, along with President Chris Yancy and Treasurer Lance Weaver, established the co-sponsorship program to help fund underprivileged organizations. I voiced my opinion on the Texas State Student Advisory Broad to ensure the Sam Houston State University voice was heard in the Texas State System.
Listed briefly are issues that, as vice-president, I will ensure happens under my leadership:
The on-campus bookstore prices are often higher than the book stores located outside the campus. I would like to see our current book store either match or beat the prices of the other stores. Students have complained of having to buy unnecessary materials i.e. dictionaries and CD’s when bundled with their textbooks. I propose that every textbook be sold separately from additional items that may come with the textbook unless specified by the instructor to lower the prices of books.
I feel that there is a gap between the students here at Sam and the administration. Some faculty members are personable with the students, while others are not. The Student Government must make sure that there is a connection between faculty and students insuring that these separate entities are on one accord. The Student Government’s number one focus is serving as the official “voice” of the student body and to effectively accomplish this goal students’ voices must be heard.
The majority of the Students at Sam have heard of Student Government, but many of these individuals don’t know our purpose of existence or how to utilize the organization. As vice-president, I will make sure that the students at Sam know our objectives as follows: to act as the official voice of the student body, to promote the welfare of the student body, to promote academic excellence, and to assist in the determination of university policies by providing sound leadership in the expression of the student body attitudes. As vice-president, students will have the ability to stop by our student-friendly SGA office and submit their griefs or concerns in writing and, shortly after, the Student Government will investigate the problem.
Our world is consistently changing to ensure that we preserve our environment. Our great university is no acceptation to the movement toward becoming environmentally friendly. As of now, there are recycling bins located across the campus, but I propose that the school administration along with Student Government find alternative ways to use less energy on our campus. A great idea that was brought to my attention would be installing solar lights in the lamp posts across the campus. Under my leadership, I will ensure that the campus becomes more energy efficient and help eliminate some of the costs of operating the university.
In conclusion, on April 15-16 log on and vote Marcelo Pendleton for your vice-president to continue to lay the foundation that has already been laid.