Illinois State University’s Student Government Association (SGA) held its first meeting of the fall semester this past Wednesday.
The meeting focused primarily on SGA’s budget for the upcoming year, which will be voted on at the next meeting.
“Last year, we were way under budget, so we had a massive surplus of funds, which is not a bad thing. It just means we, as an association, need to be prudent and spend more money,” Student Body Chief of Staff Sam Majka said.
If approved, the budget will look similar to last year’s with some subtle changes. The Civic Engagement Committee would face a $1,000 cut, as they were “almost frantic to try and spend the money,” according to Majka, who chaired the committee last year.
However, the money would not be cut from the budget entirely; it would move to the general initiative fund and be available if needed.
SGA President Noah Montoya explained his plans to get feedback from the student body to start the semester.
“I’ve reached out to RSO presidents, and I’m looking to have a one-on-one meeting with them. My goal with these meetings is to hear directly from student leaders,” Montoya said.
“The hope is that when I meet with [ISU President] Tarhule on September third, that collecting that feedback will help me figure out how to represent the student body effectively in that conversation,” Montoya continued.
SGA Advisor and Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students Andy Morgan spoke on increased amounts of involvement.
“One of the things that we’re seeing a lot more [of] is our new students getting more engaged and getting more involved. They have high expectations with ISU and how they can be engaged…we’ve seen a lot more students be involved in welcome week activities,” Morgan said.
The Ex-Officia also gave their first reports of the year. Interfraternity Council Ex-Officio Cayden Akers shared how their numbers have been up this year, supporting Morgan’s claim.
“We just had our first IFC event last week, and we had, I believe, 60 to 70 [potential new members] show up. That’s huge. We used to [have] events with like four guys showing up,” Akers said.
The next SGA meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Sept. 3 in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center.
