SNHU’s Student Government Association (SGA) approved a new structure during their biweekly meeting on Tuesday, February 26 at 5 p.m.
However, official changes to SGA’s constitution will still be voted on during the final SGA meeting on Tuesday, April 16.
The SGA executive board stated that they wanted a separate vote to approve the new structure so election promotions and ballots may properly reflect the positions that will be in place next semester.
The new SGA structure will have the following positions: President, Vice President of Internal Affairs, Vice President of Finance, Vice President of Marketing and Publicity, Vice President of External Affairs and Vice President of Student Advocacy.
SGA realized they needed a new structure at their biannual regroup in January. Members met with Michael Miller, an external consultant with extensive experience in student government. After an eight-hour training course, Miller asked the SGA to look at their structure and consider whether or not it was effective.
The new structure was developed to improve the clarity of position responsibilities, redistribute responsibilities of the vice president position, share equal responsibility between positions, and promote interaction within the organization.
Though the new vice president positions will be considered equal in their responsibility, the structure will still follow a succession order. The responsibilities of the new SGA positions are as follows:
The president will sit on the Board of Trustees, plan fall and spring retreats, lead the Policy and Procedure committee, represent the student body at the Alumni Board and act as parliamentarian at all senate meetings.
The vice president of internal affairs will work as a right-hand-man and successor to the president. This person will handle administrative duties for the SGA such as the agenda, retention, member education and committee assignment.
The vice president of finance will handle all fiscal related tasks for SGA.
The vice president of marketing and publicity will handle various marketing and publicity responsibilities for SGA. This includes promoting elections, handling social media and the end of the year report. Marketing and publicity have been given their own positions due to the rising need for social media usage.
Vice president of external affairs will handle co-sponsorships, major events and new club recognition.
Vice president of student advocacy will handle all student concerns and will follow up with senators assigned to those concerns.
Addressing concerns with student advocacy is a primary goal of SGA this semester. As SGA Executive Officer Ryan Evaul (’19) stated, “The main purpose of student government is to advocate for the students.”
In addition to structural changes, SGA committees such as Budget and Finance, Penmen Pride, Community Development, and Student Suggestions will be working on their own goals and proposing changes to SGA to be voted on Tuesday, April 16.
The goal is to have a completely new senate by the end of the semester, which will continue to change and improve through the years to come.
