Student government association works to improve campus life

By Hunter Tiberius Zuel, Contributing Writer

Most students have heard about Student Government Association (SGA) and their work on campus.

But many do not know how they impact student life in general.

The SGA website defines their duties as follows: “We strive to enhance the quality of student life at OBU by committing ourselves to the service and involvement of our fellow students.”

This means that they serve by being a voice for the students.

“SGA is derived from, exists for, and is empowered by the student population,” Hunter Doucette, student body president said.

“We voice the needs and concerns of students to the administration and also allocate funds to various campus organizations.”

Doucette explained that SGA has four internal committees—student concerns, volunteer action, events and public relations.  These committees then work to carry out both internal and external tasks.

In the events committees, Doucette said the organization seeks events that might improve student life here on Bison Hill. This year alone, SGA sponsored activities/organizations such as One Body United, Luau, Hurts Donuts [being invited to campus], Brewsday Tuesday and Brushes and Brews. SGA has also given thousands of dollars to fund organizations.

For example, recently, the student government appropriated $2,000 to fund the Student Congress on Racial Reconciliation. Doucette said this is just one example of how they can facilitate student interests.

“The average student should know they can take their ideas to SGA, having full confidence we will exhaust every possibility to ensure the idea is considered as long as it is beneficial to the student body, or, if not, explain why it can’t happen,” he said.

“The average student should also know that the members within SGA truly are service-oriented. I’ve been impressed with the persistence, creativity and hard work of this year’s senate. At the end of the day, we are all students with our top priority being academic,” Doucette said.

“In the last few months, we’ve give several thousand dollars to organizations and extended library hours,” Doucette said.

For more information about student government, contact Doucette or any other officer/senator listed at https://www.okbu.edu/student-life/organizations/sga.html.