BY ISAK SMITH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President of the Student Government Association Ryan Stanley and Vice President Austin Ruff discussed the direction of SGA this upcoming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having served as a senator and VP in prior years, Stanley is optimistic about continuing his leadership in SGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel like last year was a good year for building, just coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students across campus were less engaged, but in the last few semesters, we\u2019ve seen a lot of growth,\u201d Stanley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newly elected VP Ruff is excited about serving the senate this year in a leadership capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruff described that the role has been \u201c…pretty rewarding so far,\u201d and how he loves to advocate for students by \u201c…passing along ideas to help implement them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about his goals for this year, VP Ruff stated his intent, making sure Allocations and Appropriations go smoothly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much money at the fingertips of students and a lot of them don\u2019t know that it just sits there,\u201d Ruff said. \u201cSo many tens of thousands last year went unused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to ensuring that students and student organizations make the most of their resources, Ruff hopes to focus on campus sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of our primary goals is to start a recycling program here on campus. Setting up a recycling program has been attempted in the past couple of years but no one has been able to follow through,\u201d Ruff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to learn about where we can improve sustainability,\u201d Stanley added. \u201cI know the students would really like to see recycling on campus, so that\u2019s something I\u2019d like to see grow throughout our administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He went on to outline how he aims to increase the internal effectiveness of the SGA so that everything is working at full capacity as the bylaws and constitution state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to make sure that we\u2019re efficiently using the funds that the university provides us, so we\u2019ll do a fiscal review of everything we have going on,\u201d Stanley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He continued by highlighting student engagement as another priority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther than that, we should continue to partner with organizations on campus to get students even more engaged,\u201d Stanley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He elaborated on how students should take advantage of funds overseen by SGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have some funds for students to use for academic research or conferences, and that\u2019s something I want to see students take part in,\u201d Stanley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n