The President's Perspective: SGA President plans for another productive year

Welcome to Ball State University, Class of 2006! I am your student body president for the 2002-2003 academic year, and every Wednesday I will keep you updated on the Student Government Association (SGA).

SGA, like our federal government, consists of three branches of government: the executive enforces policy, the legislative drafts policy and the judicial interprets the constitutionality of policies.

The Executive Branch consists of the president, who oversees the operations of the organization. Additionally, the vice-president, Megan Pickens, performs as chief executive in the president's absence and is President of Senate. The secretary, Joe Flores, is responsible for operations in the SGA office, while the treasurer, Irving Washington, manages all financial business.

The cabinet assists the executive branch and consists of the chief-of-staff and six departmental directors.

Student Senate, the Legislative Branch, is the nucleus of SGA. Senators represent four caucuses: At-Large (including freshman senators), On-Campus, Off-Campus, and Organizational, who are accountable to these constituencies as their elected representatives.

The third branch of SGA is the Judicial Branch, headed by the Vice-President who serves as Chief Justice of the Judicial Court, which interprets and upholds the Constitution and Bylaws of SGA.

The work of SGA has led to increased wages for on-campus jobs, availability of 18-hour course loads without an extra fee, and Fall Break. This year, Team Tolu will enhance Ball State in four core areas: Muncie Relations, Student Life, Academics and Campus Culture.

My administration will continue to attend Muncie City Council meetings to represent student interests and maintain SGA efforts to rectify slumlord issues within the community. We will explore the possibility of credit and debit card usage at the Bursar's office and ways to ease the increasing demand for parking.

Team Tolu wants to promote school spirit by reviving tailgating and planning to support our Cardinals wherever they travel for away games. And of course, we want to help you become better accustomed to your administrators by hosting open forums where you can ask campus leaders direct questions.

But Team Tolu cannot do this alone. We need dedicated and hardworking Ball State students to propel SGA as we seek to "Experience Change Together." You do not have to be politically oriented, all you need is a desire to learn and a willingness to grow.

The first Senate meeting is Wednesday, August 28 at 3:15 p.m. in Student Center Cardinal Hall B. Applications for Senate are available in the SGA office, Student Center Room 223, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week. Freshman Elections will be in mid-September.

I hope you'll join our team.