James Shearer
Blue & White Flash / Staff Writer
Jackson State students just aren’t interested in their Student Government Association this year. At least, that’s what the data from the latest SGA nominations process is showing.
At this time, a little over 30 percent of the 49 available SGA positions are listed as vacant. That means no one is even running for them. Vacant positions include SGA Parliamentarian, Class of 2013 Vice President, Business Manager, and Secretary, as well as 10 of the 18 senate seats. Also, candidates for several positions such as SGA President are running unopposed.
Elections will be held today, April 12, 2012, and all students, both residential and commuter, will be able to vote in the JSU voting precinct, located on the second floor of the Student Center. Eight voting machines will be available.
Originally, commuter students were told they could vote online, but given some of the problems experienced before with online voting, the decision was made to use voting machines.
“In order to remain fair across the board, we felt the process could be better monitored to minimize errors, such as duplicate votes,” (if all students used the voting machines), according to Dr. Gary Crosby, director of the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement.
Although it’s too late for anyone to have their name placed on the ballot, students interested in interviewing for the vacant positions can see Crosby in the CSLI on the second floor of the JSU Student Center.
When asked what she thought were the reasons for this lack of interest, senior finance major, Jazmine Young, stated: “The cost (up to $700), the GPA (grade point average) requirements (2.8), all the rules, the amount of time it takes, and the lack of support for SGA.”
Out of the 34 offices that people are campaigning to fill, about two thirds of them are running unopposed. Because of this, only about 25 percent of next year’s SGA will have been elected by the student body in a competitive race.
In relation to this, political science graduate student Michael Morris said, “The students I’ve talked to question the actual influence of the SGA. Many see it as exclusive, something for a select few.”
Natosha Hubbard, a senior mass communications major from Vickburg, Miss. and a commuter student, stated: “I feel the student body exhibits a lack of concern or interest in the SGA and elections simply because they do not feel it has anything to do with them. If students felt as if the members of the SGA were really hearing their problems then maybe more students would participate in the SGA or the election process.”
Although many students clearly aren’t interested in filling Student Government positions, some think it is imperative that they do so, especially when it comes to the vacant senate seats. This is because the SGA Senate will vote next year on whether or not to approve the SGA president’s proposed budget. That means that how the SGA spends more than $100,000 of tuition money will be resting in the hands of whoever steps up and applies to fill these empty senate seats with the Office of Student Life.
Sophomore civil engineering major Sam Rhoads commented: “many students don’t realize the impact that the SGA has over what happens on campus.”
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