Aiden Feltman
Contributing Writer
Every year, classmates and friends post on social media about running for a spot in SGA. This September has been no different. While many know someone running for office or already in the senate, few of them know just how much they do for the Sewanee community.
This week, the Student Government Association’s President, Sarah Beth Smotherman (C ’27) was able to talk more about what their role is within Sewanee. Smotherman started in SGA as a sophomore and “fell in love with it” almost immediately. She ran the organization’s social media for a semester before eventually being elected as president last spring, an office she will serve in until she graduates in May.
Smotherman described SGA as “a representational government; a body of students elected by students.” She also mentioned that SGA “serves students and the community, and also acts as a connection to administration.”
SGA is heavily connected with various student organizations across campus. They approve grants for groups from the Interfraternity Council to the Bairnwick Women’s Center, and all new organizations must be approved by their senate before being recognized.
Their grants end up creating a wide set of opportunities for our student body, but most of this work is behind the scenes. In her remaining months at Sewanee, Smotherman has committed to a set of goals in order to change that. The biggest of these is making sure SGA is informing students about their role at our university.
She started this by considering her job as President. “Having conversations are the most important things I can do as president,” she said. Smotherman further explained that she wanted to have “a very outward facing position to the student body.” SGA as a whole is also taking important steps to widen their outreach within the student body. One of the biggest of these changes is an initiative called the “committee reports.”
The senate is divided into smaller committees who spend their time focusing on specific aspects of Sewanee. Examples of these committees include parking and transportation, public safety and Title IX. After senators receive their committee assignments, they are put in contact with an administrative leader on campus. Members speak to this administrator about their topic, and then return to the senate to present issues that students are facing in order to improve them.
In previous years, the student body has lacked awareness of these committees, despite them holding power to help fix issues that the community faces. Starting at the end of September, however, these committees will submit reports.
At a community dinner, the committee reports will be presented to the student body. The meeting will give students an opportunity to see inside the workings of SGA and learn more about what they have been working on. This is a big step towards increasing student involvement with the organization.
Joseph Tidwell (C ’29), a senator in the sophomore class said that these reports were what he was most excited to share with the community. “We’ve been working really hard on them,” he said. “I think they will really help people become more aware of our impact.”
SGA has been meeting weekly since the start of the school year to work on these reports and more in our community. If students have any questions or concerns, they are encouraged to reach out via email to sga@sewanee.edu.