Despite it being one of the largest and farthest-reaching student organizations on Auburn’s campus, the Student Government Association (SGA) and all its responsibilities are relatively mysterious to the average Auburn student. Let’s change that. Here are the three things you need to know about SGA at Auburn.
- Know why they exist. Here’s how they define themselves on the official Student Government Association webpage :
Auburn University’s Student Government Association represents the Auburn student body to the university administration and the community. SGA advocates for the interests of Auburn students and works to better the student experience through community events and initiatives.
SGA’s tagline is “Serve. Promote. Unify.” So, they’re here to make sure you as a student are well tended to academically, physically, mentally, and socially; they’re here to help host and advertise for the hundreds of events and organizations at Auburn and get you involved with them; and they’re here to provide those things for every single student at Auburn University.
- Know how they serve, promote, and unify. There are tons of SGA-sponsored events throughout the year you may not know are SGA-sponsored, a few of which are Hey Day, Up All Night, Family Fridays, the Holiday Lighting Ceremony, and Homecoming. They also manage the schedule and appearances of everyone’s favorite tiger, Aubie.
You can follow SGA to find out about their initiatives and programs on Facebook, Instagram, and you can also check out their page on AUInvolve.
- Know who they are: We all know the President, Vice President, and Treasurer because you’ve most likely seen their names all over campus. But what about the almost 100 Cabinet members and 34 college Senators, not to mention the Elections Board and the Schools Council?
Yeah. Most people don’t know about them, either, but they do a lot of work throughout their year-long tenure.
In general, Cabinet members work with faculty, staff, and university departments as well as other student organizations to make sure that current programs are running smoothly and future projects are becoming a reality. Some projects achieved by Cabinet members are the Weagle Water fountains found around campus, adding Fall Break to the academic calendar back in 2014, and putting study materials for the MCAT, LSAT, GRE, and many more important standardized exams on the shelves of RBD for any student to utilize.
Senate members serve as the voice of the students within their respective schools and colleges within the university, including Agriculture, Business, CADC, COSAM, Education, Engineering, Graduate School, Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts, Nursing, Pharmacy, the University College, and Veterinary Medicine. They work to bridge the gap between the deans of the schools and the students, and in addition, the senators vote on legislation each week that aims to improve student life at Auburn.
The graphic linked below will help to visualize the hierarchy of SGA, and you can click on each position title to bring you to that specific webpage within SGA’s website. Note that under every Assistant Vice President position there are at least 2 Directors. To find out more information about what each position’s role is within SGA and around campus, visit SGA’s Branches webpage.
Applications and interviews for what SGA calls the “major positions” (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Miss Auburn) and “minor positions” (Senators, School’s Council President and Vice President for each school and college) within SGA are due during the fall semester. These positions run their campaigns and are elected early in the spring semester. Applications, interviews, and selections for SGA Cabinet positions all occur during the spring semester. Consider applying for a position, and see how you can make a positive impact on Auburn’s campus through SGA!
If you don’t want to join SGA, however, you can still get stuff accomplished around our campus. Let SGA know about questions, comments and concerns you have through their Auburn Answers program. If you see something that needs changing, think of a great idea to improve an area of campus, or have a question that needs answering, complete an Auburn Answers submission. Your message is sent directly to the SGA Auburn Answers team who then delegates your message to the branch within SGA who can use their resources to make sure every attempt is made to fulfill your request.
SGA exists to serve you, so now that you’re better informed about how exactly they do that, get involved however you want and go make Auburn better!
Post contributed by Katy Duncan, Office of Sustainability Student Staff
