Holy Cross College student body president Dion Payne-Miller and vice president Oscar Jarmon focused their efforts in the first semester on making student government more responsive to students and instituting policy to bring the community together.
Payne-Miller emphasized that one of his biggest priorities was making student government more efficient and responsive to the students.
“A lot of what I’ve done this semester has been very structure based, in terms of the structure of [student government association (SGA)], how things run and how proposals are processed,” Payne-Miller said, adding that proposals introduced by senators are now processed faster than before.
The programming board has also become more effective this semester, Payne-Miller argued.
“Our programming board, so our social concerns and entertainment committees, they’ve done a wonderful job at putting together community events on campus,” he said.
Jarmon highlighted the Fall Fest week as one of student government’s biggest accomplishments. Fall Fest consisted of a week of daily events in the beginning of October, including the Holy Cross hoedown dance and an open mic night.
“Monday to Friday, we had events and all those events had a really good turnout,” Jarmon said.
Both Payne-Miller and Jarmon noticed that the student body has been much more engaged this semester.
“Our students this year are very vocal,” Payne-Miller affirmed. “And that goes from our senate leaders, all the way to just the general campus community.”
Jarmon added that students have been eager to share their thoughts.
“During our SGA office hours people come in and talk about ideas,” he said. “They’ve been a really good help to us and the SGA.”
Agreeing with Jarmon, Payne-Miller emphasized how important the involvement is to the campus.
“We're a small campus. And so having those relationships, I think are really important to us,” Payne-Miller stated.
The second semester is slated to be a busy one at Holy Cross, the student body President and Vice-President noted.
“The next semester is the busiest semester because we have spring formal and then our new president inauguration,” Jarmon said.
Payne-Miller introduced a number of policy ideas this semester that he hopes to get through next semester. One important issue for student government is the printing system at Holy Cross.
“We have a certain amount of money that we get to use on printing for each semester,” Payne-Miller said. “What we're advocating for is to get whatever money that's left on the account to get that to roll over to the next semester.”
Trying to get more spices in the dining hall is also a priority for the Student Government Association. One of the biggest possible policy proposals for next semester is the changing over parietal hours at Holy Cross College.
“We’re trying to get parietals moved back on weekends,” Payne-Miller stated, pointing out, “At Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s, it’s 2 a.m. and at Holy Cross, it’s 1 a.m. [...] Students want to be able to spend more time with friends and develop relationships.”
Payne-Miller noted that the only reason that parietals are at a different time at Holy Cross is because of a policy instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic that is still in place.
Concluding his remarks, Payne-Miller re-emphasized the role that he wants the community to play in his policy making.
“I want the government to be a student government-led organization,” Payne-Miller said.
Review: Payne-Miller and Jarmon’s emphasis on student involvement in student government is an inspired idea and should promote a stronger community as well as more popular student events. However, the student government should focus on putting together more events and passing more tangible policy as opposed to only a focus on structural reforms. The planned docket for next semester promises to accomplish this goal.
Contact Liam Kelly at lkelly8@nd.edu.
