The Cabinet of the
Student Government Association arrived back at Appalachian State
University early last week to begin work and research on issues
ranging from the Student Discount Card to coping with state budget
cuts.
While the Student Senate has not yet been elected, some of the items
the SGA deals with, such as the Student Discount Card, do not require
legislation.
For items that might require future legislation, like those involving
state budget cuts, the Cabinet researches information about the
issues to provide for senators.
“Our main job is not to lead so much as be a resource,”
said Rachel Johnson, director of Academic Affairs. “We have
more information at our hands than a senator would.”
“Our point this year is not to put out legislation that’s
not well researched,” said Johnson. “I want legislation
coming out of my committee that has gone through every single question
the administration can come up with.”
Previously, many of the research duties in SGA were handled by the
Research committee, which was disbanded this year.
“The platform goals have been delegated out to different committees,”
said President Ryan Eller. “In order for that chair to accomplish
their job, they’re going to have to do a lot of research.”
Student Discount Card
One of the main items on the platform of the Eller/Williams campaign
last year was improving the quality of the Student Discount Card
and promoting its use.
“Last year students didn’t really use their discount cards
that much,” said Alicia Walker, director of External Affairs.
“We’re putting out the discount card a week later this
year to make it more memorable to students.”
“The card was done by one person last year; this year it’s
more of a cabinet effort,” said Vice President Ezell Williams.
“We’ve assigned everybody on the cabinet a certain number
of businesses [to solicit].”
The Cabinet hopes to have 103 local businesses accept the discount
card this year. While this would represent only a small increase
from the 101 businesses included on the card last year, a larger
range of businesses is promised this year.
“We’re going to Blowing Rock; we’ve got a photographer
on there,” said Walker. “I think it’s a bigger variety,
more than just restaurants and the occasional store.”
State Budget Cuts
With budget cuts hitting campuses statewide, the Cabinet hopes to
lobby on the state level this year as well as find ways to deal
with classes and course sections being canceled.
“We plan to take some students down to lobby at the General
Assembly,” said Andrew Ball, director of State and National
Affairs. “We’re definitely against higher tuition increases.
We know the campus-based tuition increases are the things that hurt
us.”
A higher degree of student consultation concerning cuts and tuition
increases is one of the Cabinet’s main goals.
“The problem right now is that courses have been cut,”
said Johnson. “It happened to a lot of my friends that they
had six or nine hours cancelled and didn’t know until their
schedule was printed.”
“As soon as the senators are elected, they’ll need to
start researching which classes were cut and why,” continued
Johnson. “It has to be addressed immediately. It’s really
frustrating not to get advanced warning and just to find a class
gone.”
“I think some of the senators last year didn’t realize
that our main goal isn’t to complain through legislation, it’s
to get things accomplished,” said Johnson.
“We’re going to try to reach out to people we’ve
never reached out to before,” said Eller. “What I’m
hoping is that we’ll be a more representative student government
than we’ve ever been in the history of Appalachian.”
|
David Forbes
Staff Writer
SGA beat |
