In a recent interview with The Olaf Messenger, Student Government Association (SGA) President Zaria Irving ’25 and Vice President Grace Barton ’25 detailed the organization’s priorities for the spring semester.
Irving spoke about work from last semester that continues to be built upon, including the restructuring of SGA and projects within the Apartheid Statement such as training sessions on spending funds.
“We put out the Apartheid Statement… [but] our work doesn’t stop at the statement. We’re still working on a lot of the things we put in that statement,” Irving said.
Barton, who was appointed to her position this past December, said she did not expect to find herself in the position at the start of the year.
“It’s kind of been a complete 180,” she said.
As Vice President, Barton is committed to the idea of approachability.
“I have been trying really hard this year to make Senate an approachable space for people who are not senators to come and interact with us. We have a lot of formal things that help make the space move faster… but sometimes those formalities can really erode the humanness behind who’s sitting there,” Barton said.
When asked about both current and future plans, Barton expressed excitement.
“There’s some exciting funding proposals going through Senate. Hopefully, by next week, we’ll have a funding proposal for 10 new bikes on campus,” Barton said.
SGA has also received proposals for storage bins for international students to store their items over the summer, the addition of whiteboards in residence halls, a healthy vending machine, and a swing set.
According to Barton, Senate is trying to ensure it is conscious and considerate of the large impact these proposals could have on student experiences.
“We want to make sure that we are altering them for the good and not for the bad,” Barton said.
Another topic on the agenda at Senate meetings is the series of executive orders being passed by the new federal administration.
“We are currently having discussions on how to approach changes on campus regarding executive orders. That’s been a lot of the conversation, and a lot of time that we’ve spent is how to reaffirm SGA’s role as a safe and affirming, nondiscriminatory space, but also making sure that we are not putting any students in undo harm,” Barton said.
At the Senate meeting on Feb. 18, Vice President for Community and Belonging Eduardo Pazos spoke to SGA about the executive orders issued by the Trump administration. A report on the recent Board of Regents meeting in New York by Secretary of Student Affairs Donovan Roddy ’25 detailed that the board has also been discussing the executive orders.
Both Irving and Barton emphasized an open-door policy, sharing that they want their fellow students to know they can always come talk to their SGA representatives.
“We do care…we are here because we care about students and would like to make things better. [We] have seen different ways where small improvements have actually made differences for students,” Barton said. “We want to know what those improvements are and what we can do, because chances are there is a connection we can make or something we can do to make things better.”
