The Student Government Association's motto is "Serving and promoting the individual student; unifying all that is Auburn."
SGA has tried to live up to that goal this year.
"The year's gone extremely successful," said Kurt Sasser, SGA president and senior in human resource management. "There's been a lot done. There's been a lot of things that we've tried new that's been successful."
One new feature of the SGA this year has been the addition of the Council, which has handled initiatives with facets like auxiliaries, publicity and facilities, Sasser said.
"For Exec to be the liaison between the students and the administration, we felt like we needed to have more manpower and womanpower and really get some help in those initiatives," Sasser said.
One visible result of the Council is the hydration stations in the Student Center.
An annual SGA project carried out by the Senate is the Campaign Complain boards, which give students the opportunity to tell the SGA what's on their minds.
"The Campaign Complain boards--we actually do look at those things," Sasser said. "We take those boards, and we type every single one of those complaints up into a spreadsheet and then look at them from there and say, 'What can we do about this?'"
Sasser said one complaint that always comes up is parking. This problem may not be solved during the next few years, but SGA does realize it's a problem.
"Once the Coliseum comes down within the next five years and the Student Wellness Center goes up, that's going to be a lot of room for parking over there," Sasser said. "Parking's not good right now, I do understand that."
Sasser said SGA has been "taking baby steps" toward "bridging the gap" among University student organizations, as well as within the University as a whole.
Textbook Reserve Program is an initiative that SGA did as a partnership with the library, the Interfraternity Council and the University Program Council.
Another event the SGA worked with other groups on is the gubernatorial debate, in which the SGA, the Office of Marketing and Communication and the president's office were involved.
"That was extremely successful," Sasser said. "It was truly a University collaborative effort."
Other SGA programs have included and will include annual events like Hey Day, Better Relations Day and the Beat Bama Food Drive.
Sasser said he was most impressed with how SGA identified problems and took steps to fix them this year.
"We've looked at those problems and said, 'What can we do to fix them?'" Sasser said. "And I think we've done a great job."
One problem in SGA will be addressed in the SGA constitutional amendment that just passed.
The addition of an attorney general and chief justice, constituting a judicial branch was ratified by the student population last week.
"We want there to be more accountability with SGA," Sasser said. "It's something that we were really behind the ball on--most other SGAs and universities have that."
Many students are unaware of the things in which the SGA is involved.
"I don't really keep up with it that much, honestly," said Conrad Lee, freshman in building science.
Sarah Lynn Dantzler, junior in health administration services, said she didn't know much about SGA either.
"I mean, I know that they try to put on as many events for the students as possible, and they're good about promoting new organizations," Dantzler said.
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