Students, both greeks and non-greeks alike, are encouraged to apply for the spring Student Government Association elections.
The Student Government Association is preparing for the spring election of the new senate and officer positions.
"As far as experience, none is required but it helps," said Ben Hall, SGA 2006 election commissioner. "It's always good to realize the problems on campus before you make changes and being involved definitely helps."
In addition to all the senator positions available, the positions of student body president, executive vice president and speaker of the senate, vice president of administration and public affairs and the position of election commissioner are available.
Hall, a junior management and marketing major, said he would not rerun for his position as election commissioner, but encouraged all students interested to put in applications to run.
"In addition to the four executives, senate seats are available for all colleges," Hall said. "It's about one seat per 750 students in that particular college, we also have five at-large seats available."
A common misconception about SGA is a necessity to participate or win an election; one must belong to a Greek Organization. It is an image that Hall said the SGA is trying to steer away from.
"While it is true being Greek means a candidate probably already has a good portion of voters, at most, Greeks only make up about 8 percent of campus," Hall said. "Overall, if a person can market to non-Greek voters, they would win easily. The association should be a voice of all students.
In the fall 2006 semester, voting was up to 23 percent, the highest voting percentage for the past couple of year, Hall said. Unfortunately, spring elections commonly have a lower voter turnout and only meet about half the percentage of fall.
However, Greeks comprise the highest demographic in campus elections and polls, Hall said. A problem seems to be a "lack of use" of the association and the ability to know that students', Greek or otherwise, opinion does matter.
"When someone says they don't have a chance because they aren't Greek, yes you do," Hall said. "All they would need to do would go and talk to different organizations, like Republican or Democrat organizations, church groups or even fraternities and sororities."
Overall, participating in student government is a rewarding experience, Hall said.
"By working with the SGA, you are taking an active role and helping to change the campus," Hall said. "You can help make the university better and get the campus more involved. This past year we voted on the new student union center and one day it will be built and become a piece of history on campus, and we were able to help."
However, with the sweet comes the sour, and the SGA has a few minor issues to work out, Hall said.
"The largest problem we are having is we have been passing a lot of legislation, and a lot has not been of a good quality standard," Hall said. "But that is one of the goals for next year, to work on passing only quality legislation and having the administration act upon it when they receive it. The legislation we pass should be profound to them and should be respected."
Applications to run for Student Government will be available in the SGA office of the Keathley University Center on Monday. u
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