Open dorm on both Friday and Saturday, with a new rule that allows just two students to be in a room at a time. A four-day fall pause. Guacamole in the cafeteria. All of these things are new aspects of campus life that Asbury students get to enjoy. The most notable detail of these changes is that they were all enacted by students. Through the Student Governance Association (SGA), Asburians are able to speak up for what they believe in and make changes to the campus world around them.
SGA is a branch of Asbury Student Congress (ASC). According to the Asbury University website, SGA brings together student leaders from various areas of campus to discuss and work towards the continual improvement of campus.
“SGA to me is where the policy and legislation from the student body comes from,” said Vice President of Student Governance Demarion Johnson. “We have various committees that allow us to work with administrative faculty at the university to bring forth student concerns and ideas on a platform that we wouldn’t typically have.”
Students within SGA represent their peers and present the opinions of the student body to Asbury administration. There are various committees in SGA which allow SGA to transform all areas of campus. The committees in SGA are the Academic and Institutional Matters; Parking and Safety; Campus Spaces and Accessibility; Food Services; and Issues Awareness.
“The Academic and Institutional Matters Committee focuses on writing legislation that directly affects all of the student body and the institution itself,” said Johnson. “Parking and Safety focuses on parking and safety regulations and appealing tickets. Campus Spaces and Accessibility works with what can we do to enhance the look of campus and what can we do to make campus more accessible so that more students can enjoy Asbury. Through Food Services we work directly with Pioneer management and bring student concerns to continue to improve the cafeteria to better serve our students.” Pioneer Catering is the food service provider for the university.
Any student on campus can get involved with SGA without having to commit all of their free time. Some elected positions automatically place people in SGA, but there is always a place for students who want to be more involved in bettering campus.
“We have open spots for students who want to be involved in student leadership but don’t want to have any commitment to those positions so they can serve on the committees and still have their voice heard,” said Johnson. “To get involved with ASC and SGA it honestly is just to say ‘Hey, I want to be involved.’”
No matter the level of involvement, SGA is the place to be for students with ideas on how to make campus a better place. SGA gives students the opportunity to voice their opinions and put their plan for change into action.
“I personally believe that it’s where the magic happens — if you see something that’s not working on campus it gives you the platform or opportunity to voice that, and then it also looks at what are the steps to take to correct those problems and move forward, bettering the campus and life for students,” said Johnson.
