The Slippery Rock Student Government Association (SRSGA) has an expansive agenda set for the 2018 spring semester. From promoting the social justice committee from an ad hoc to a standing committee, to tweaking the position of graduate senator moving forward, the executive board hopes to achieve quite a bit before their one year term ends this May. SRSGA president, Rachel Lawler, is excited at the prospect of making a positive impression as her time at Slippery Rock comes to a close.
“We’ve taken a lot of baby steps towards where I ultimately want us to be,” Lawler said. “I’m really pleased with the strides we’ve made at making SGA a more inclusive organization and seeing that carry over into other campus organizations.”
Inclusivity has been an emphasis of Lawler and her executive board this academic year, particularly through the ad hoc Social Justice Committee. Pending a Senate vote, their status will be upgraded to a standing committee early on in the semester, making their chair a voting member of the executive board.
Lawler also hopes to emphasize student engagement with the recently reopened presidential search to find a permanent replacement for former SRU President Cheryl Norton. As the search committee vets potential candidates, SGA will hold open forums to give students the opportunity to ask questions and keep the selection process as transparent as possible.
“I want students to understand the selection process as much as possible. Making sure that they are engaged with the search as it progresses this spring will be a big point of emphasis for us.”
Wendy Leitera, who serves as the executive director of SRSGA, has noticed a growing trend in recent years of being more inclusive as an organization and actively trying to expand this idea to other campus groups.
“This executive board has made great strides at being inclusive of organizations on campus,” Leitera said. “It has been a pleasure to work with this group in becoming more inclusive through constitutional amendments and increasing awareness among the student body,” Leitera said. “This e-board, in particular, has put an emphasis on being inclusive and promoting that idea on campus. Especially with the presidential search resuming, they have a large task ahead of them with keeping students informed.”
Leitera also has noticed strong involvement from underclassmen with this year’s group of senators. Younger members of SGA have shown more initiative when comes to understanding all that goes into making decisions that affect the student body.
“There has been a noticeable shift towards being more engaged among the younger senators,” Leitera said. “They really seem like they’re the type of students who are working towards holding future leadership positions. The initiative they are showing now makes me confident that SGA is moving in the right direction long term. I think that younger members will do well at continuing and building onto some of the great things this executive board has accomplished.”
The vacant executive board position of Vice President of Internal Affairs will be addressed at this meeting and meetings in the immediate future. The SRSGA will hold their first public meeting of the year on Monday, January 29, at 8:45 in the Smith Student Center Theater.
