Photo: Student works in the Student Government Association (SGA) Office located in the Office of Student Activities. Megan Lu/The Olaf Messenger
The Senate officially updated its bylaws to reflect the recent restructuring of the Student Government Association (SGA) for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Under the restructuring plan, the Community Impact Board will be established, comprised of a Global Impact committee, which will assume the duties of Political Action Awareness (PAC), and a Local Impact committee, which will replace the Volunteer Network (VN).
Similarly, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board will replace the former Diversity Initiatives Support Committee (DISC).
Additionally, the Involvement Board is set to replace the former Student Organizations Committee (SOC). The new Campus Affairs Board will be composed of the Student Affairs Committee, which will replace the Board of Regents Student Committee (BORSC). As well, a completely new committee known as the Academic Affairs Committee has been formed that will involve projects related to student academic success.
The updated titles and responsibilities are the result of careful planning done by current SGA President Sophia Pletcher ’24 and Vice President Chau Troung ’24.
“It’s supposed to be easier to understand,” Pletcher said. “We tried to name things so that it made more sense and to try to eliminate acronyms because then it’s like, ‘what is SOC?’ Whereas if you see Involvement Board, it’s a little clearer on what that means.”
Troung, who has been involved in SGA since her first year, believes that one of the largest problems students faced when it came to SGA was understanding it.
“It’s hard for them to navigate to see where they need to go, or to make changes if they want to start a club, or if they want to host an event,” Troung said.
The two wanted to build a “set support network” for those people so they could do the work important to them while knowing they had a supporting system behind them, Pletcher said.
A more efficient way for student organizations to receive funding will be implemented with the update. Previously, there were three different processes for student organizations to get funding across three different organizations, which created confusion.
To combat this, the restructure standardized the process across the three organizations.
Also, Pletcher explains, there were instances of student organizations being created for special purposes but that did not have a longevity aspect to them. To encourage students who wanted to work on short-term projects while still having more agency, they introduced grants that students could apply to through the new Community Engagement Board.
With the entire restructuring being completed within the span of this school year, the two have put in an immense amount of time and effort in communicating with and understanding what the student body needs.
“I am honestly really proud of the way that I think people, specifically the people on the executive team, were excited to try and make processes more easily accessible for students,” Pletcher said.
Troung specifically applauds Pletcher for her drive during the initial structuring of the project.
“I think her leadership during all of this is something that I’m immensely proud of as someone that works so closely with her,” Troung said.
As Pletcher and Troung step down for incoming President Zaria Irving ’25 and Vice President Yolanda Pauly ’25, the restructure should stand as an assurance that the SGA is accessible to every student and student organization.
