November 15, 2016

By Timothy Kalkirtz

The Student Government Association (SGA) at Dominican has been heavily involved in political issues on campus, most notably the MAP Grant rallies that took place last year. Under new President John Sass, SGA has gained less notoriety around campus.

Dominican had its hands full with issues for SGA to take care of last year. MAP Grant funding was the major issue that affected many Dominican students and was an issue SGA was able to organize people around. This semester, SGA has worked on creating a budget and gaining student involvement within their organization.

“The lack of major issues means that SGA has to work harder to let students know what they are doing”, Sass said. “Students know their leaders, but not the organization. I believe we have more work to do in regards to spreading the word and making moves towards having more involvement from the student body.”

All students and faculty are encouraged to attend SGA meetings so that they express their political voice and propose issues. Meetings are generally held either in the Springer Suites or Lewis 211. 

Some students feel like SGA has not been pro-active enough when it comes to campus issues and that it is not doing enough to alleviate problems before they begin as well as not utilizing social media.

Junior Maya Belter believes that part of the difference might be the decreased use of communication technology.

“Last semester SGA had a great way of spreading news through social media,” Belter said. “I know Berto Aguayo had a lot of followers within the school and I believe that that had a large impact on student involvement.”

Political Science Professor David Dolence attributes some of the differences to different circumstances.

“To say they are less or more active is often determined by what they need to respond to,” Dolence said.

Dolence also pointed out that the protests and political activism on campus last year went through the SGA. He believes that successful protests should be done through an organized group like the SGA, but that is not always going to be the most appealing approach.

“SGA could be a powerful tool of change, but often it is ignored because a quiet and consciously directed solution to problems is not as ‘sexy’ as headline grabbing random acts,” Dolence said.

To learn more about the SGA and keep up with meetings, issues and events, you can follow them on Twitter @DUStudent_Gov as well as on Facebook at Student Government Association at Dominican University.

kalktimo@my.dom.edu