Photo by Robert Beeland (C’18)
By Richard Pryor, III
Staff Writer
David Harkins (C’17) is the Student Government Association (SGA) President for this school year, succeeding Julian “Jewlz” Humphrey-Davis (C’16). During his speech at the Launching a New Year celebration, he alluded to his ideas for the SGA agenda this year. The Purple spoke to David to discuss his ideas.
The Sewanee Purple: So what got you interested in doing SGA?
David Harkins: I was passionate about the school, and I wanted to help make it better. I decided to run after talking with many people who had been Senators or President in the past, and so I decided to run.
SP: What is your top goal for the year ahead?
DH: I don’t know that there is one, but our goal every year is to connect students to the administration and the community around us, as well as to connect all the students to each other. I would put everything SGA does in two categories: social programming (events), and being a voice for students, pushing initiatives, and helping to make Sewanee better, making a positive change around campus.
SP: So what’s the SGA game plan for this year?
DH: We’ve looked at events we’ve done in the past, and we’re deciding which ones to continue and to not coninue, and new events that we want to start. Initiative-wise, it’s largely what we want to hear from students. We’re involved because during our time, we’ve all had those ideas. We also plan to start doing office hours for about an hour before each meeting, most likely in the back room of Stirlings, where we want to hear from the people we represent. That’s the most important thing, representing our constituents.
SP: During the Launching a New Year celebration, we heard about reform from the Order of the Gownsmen. Will you be doing any reforming of your own in the SGA?
DH: I don’t think reform is necessary at this point. An updated version of the SGA Constitution was only passed last year, so we don’t need to do that right now. We’re just trying to make ourselves more accessible, we’ve got this great website that Mac Bouldin (C’19) is maintaining, and we’re looking at combining that with OrgSync in some way.
SP: At the end of the year, once you’ve graduated from Sewanee, what do you see as the most important thing you’ve contributed to this campus?
DH: Hopefully more people will know about SGA and what we do, and we can increase our presence on campus. Jewlz did great last year and I’m hoping to keep the ball rolling on that.