by Claudia Brunson
news editor
This past week, elections for the Student Body Association (SBA) were held. Students were encouraged to vote and attend campaign speeches from all candidates running for office. Voting closed for the election Nov. 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Outgoing Secretary for the Student Body Association, Anna Sit, discussed the role of SBA on campus and what the organization is responsible for. Every year, students pay a tuition fee of $200 that goes straight into the budget for SBA. With this money, the organization allocates and dispenses money to other student organizations and is also in charge of multiple events on campus. SBA is responsible for managing intramurals on campus and other traditions such as Fourth Night for all incoming freshmen. The organization is working on developing a tradition for the Sophomore class as well. SBA is also responsible for campus changes such as Reuben’s extending hours of operation and the gazebo that was recently built in between the Writing Center and the Christian Center.
Candidates running for office this year included Hunter Cooper and Sierra Burris for secretary; Noah Barbieri for treasurer; Max Harrigil for vice president; Ariel DeCoteau for executive director of programming; and Tasha McGuire and Sean Connelly for president. The winners are Tasha McGuire (president), Max Harrigill (vice president), Sierra Burris (secretary), Noah Barbieri (treasurer), and Ariel DeCoteau (director of programming).
With these offices come great responsibility. Every Monday night the Senate hosts a meeting in which all students are invited to come and voice opinions and concerns.
“The student body is our constituency that we are elected to represent, and we take every voice that we get very seriously,” Sit said. “In fact, every week at the very beginning of our meeting we have time for constituent concerns and questions and we take good 20 minutes Monday nights to answer those. We encourage students to get very involved with us. We have a town hall meeting every semester and we advertise and attendance is ‘iffy’ at best. But Senate meetings are always open to students.”
The mission and goal of SBA is to work directly and closely with administration and faculty to enhance the quality of life for students at Millsaps. The organization is dedicated to discovering problems and fixing what needs to be fixed for happier students.