Student body president and rising senior Jenny Hoffman and student body vice president and rising junior Meg Griffin begin their term today for the 2009-2010 academic year.
There has been a rift between student government and the student body after the stipend dispute in the fall semester. However, Hoffman said transparency is their main goal for the term.
"I feel like our theme this year is transparency. In the sense that, our main goals should be the main priorities of our students," Hoffman said. "In that way, I think it will alleviate tension that has been felt in the past."
Griffin also added she hopes to make Student Government Association (SGA) more approachable by the students. She said she hopes to do this by creating open forums for people to voice their concerns.
"We are part of the student body. We are not here to accomplish the goals we are interested in, we are here for the student body," Griffin said.
Hoffman and Griffin would like to continue the initiatives that were started by exiting student body president Mickey Gruscinski and student body vice president Sarah Falvey.
These proposals include putting printers in the Student Center and residence halls, extending the hours of the Student Center and possibly the library as well and improving communication between the student body and SGA.
"There is a lot of information on this campus, and I think it would be a lot easier to consolidate all that information in one place," Hoffman said.
They do have short-term goals they would like to see accomplished before the end of the school year, such as putting a printer in the Student Center to monitor student use. Also, they will be sending out a student survey to get opinions on their goals for the upcoming school year.
"We would like to have a student survey which we hope will encompass a lot of issues that will help us to determine our long-term goals for next year," Hoffman said.
The previous Board recently passed a new SGA Constitution. At the beginning of the spring semester Griffin, who is also chair of the Constitution Committee, plans to write the bylaws for the new document.
"Once we have those bylaws down, it will be easier to see if there are any holes anywhere that we need to add to the Constitution," Griffin said.
Both said they hope to make student government more efficient and make sure commissioners are doing everything they can to serve students, Griffin said.
"While our commissioners do have a responsibility for campus programming, it is also in their job description to serve the student body," she said. "I really want them to help us know what is going on with student concerns."
Once SGA meets next Monday for Hoffman and Griffin's first meeting, the two said they do not want to waste time on expanding on the work of the previous Board.
"Now that our foundation has been laid, we can really start building on it," Hoffman said.
