The Student Association met Thursday night with potential SA members to discuss the campaign process for next week.
SA Vice President senior Joseph McManus said current SA members have shared with potential new members how they have come to understand the SA over the past year. McManus said they also plan to work more with those who get elected to shorten the learning curve process.
“The whole goal is to increase our effectiveness,” McManus said. “And by sharing with them what we already know, giving them perspective, lessons learned … hopefully that will skyrocket them into a really successful year.”
Potential members who submit a petition sheet with 50 signatures to the SA office by 5 p.m. Friday will continue to the campaign process.
In addition to new members, the SA has also proposed changes to the SA constitution to set up a more efficient system of communication. SA President senior Tyler Gentry said the last update to the constitution came in 1982.
McManus specified part of the need for the update is that the current edition makes it hard to understand a given SA role very well. Former SA President senior Will Waldron noticed this during his term and started a journal of lessons he learned to help successive SA presidents.
“In regards to this whole continuity question, my hope is that Tyler Gentry is a stronger SA president than I was and the one who comes after him is a stronger SA president than he is,” Waldron said.
Among the proposed changes are focusing on having more international and exchange students involved within the SA, focusing the spiritual life functions of the SA to include more students directly with chapel planning and more clearly defining roles within the SA.
The SA is still in discussion with administration about these changes.
A panel of candidates for SA president will be held during Monday’s chapel for the candidates to present their personal campaign purposes to the student body. Votes for all candidates will be held on Pipeline from 8 a.m. on Wednesday until 8 a.m. on Thursday. The new SA members will be announced in Thursday’s Chapel.
