By: Analy Ortiz
Dominican’s Student Government Association (SGA) has an important job and a big budget but is struggling to get students to participate as almost all the leadership will graduate this semester, according to its leaders.
SGA makes sure students have a voice at all levels of the decision-making at the university and holds annual town hall meetings for students to question administrators, according to President Dolores Hernandez, currently in her second year as president.
“SGA has representatives in a variety of decision-making committees like the Strategic Planning Committee, Strategic Budget and Planning Subcommittees, RCAS curriculum, President’s Advisory Board, among a few more,” she said.
SGA is working with student engagement to create new spaces, such as advising on the remodeling of the second floor of the Rebecca Crown library.
“We’ve been working with them just to give them input such as making sure there are outlets for students to plug in their electronics, color schemed furniture, all the details we’re working with them so that student spaces are as best as they can be,” she said. SGA also approves new student clubs and controls $20,000 a year that goes to them.
“We review budgets for annually funded organizations on a yearly basis, and also distribute funds to non-annual funded clubs for programming,” Hernandez said. “We also recognize new clubs/org officially on campus and approve organizations that want to become annually funded.”
SGA Treasurer Anastasiya Hedesh emphasized how SGA helps student organizations.
“(The budget committee) is kind of the most important part of SGA in my opinion,” she said. “We’re giving budget money away which is why students need SGA”.
But the SGA’s work can take a lot of time, and many positions are going unfilled, Hernandez said.
“We used to have a full senate and now we’re down to two senators, when really we should be down to 25,” she said. “So even getting senators is hard, and the president position is a lot of work. It is almost like a full-time job, so I am worried that I won’t find a replacement, somebody that would want to run, or for any executive position really”
One of the two senators, Natalia Chukhrii, agreed that the job could be difficult since so few students were involved. SGA Vice President Mac Krawiec is in charge of networking and elections. He explained that SGA is a necessary link between students and the school’s administration. He emphasized that his goal is “to leave a functional SGA for the years subsequent my graduation” and is trying to get the word out there before he graduates. Hernandez said that she is working with Vice President Barrington Price to see if student leaders could get some compensation, perhaps small tuition stipends or a free parking pass.
Although Hernandez is graduating, she still cares about student government.
“My goals would be so that SGA goes back to what it used to be just a few years ago on campus – being a big well-known organization – that’s always the big goal, and more participation,” she said. “Especially because our executive board is all going to graduate. There’s only going to be one person [executive board member] left so it’s tough.”
Hernandez also hopes to start a social media campaign to highlight Dominican workers, which would follow up last year’s campaign highlighting students. “Serving student government has been empowering,” Hernandez said.
“I think that my favorite thing about it is that when you’re in that position, staff and faculty, and everybody that you work with really do take your point of view into consideration,” she said. “I have friends that go to other schools and they always say that the student voice is not as strong, but here, if you’re sitting in a meeting you get treated just as good and equally as everybody else.” Elections will be in mid to late April, Hernandez said.
SGA meetings are open to students the first Monday of the month. Elections will be in mid to late April, Hernandez said.
