The Student Government Association (SGA) spent the summer hard at work for the students.
Though most students do not take classes during the summer, UTD continues to change and progress, even throughout the summer months. While this summer meant SGA finished a lot of old projects, it also signified the beginning of many new ideas.
With this being an election year, the SGA wants to place added emphasis on the student population registering to vote and having a voice in the upcoming elections.
In coordination with the national Rock the Vote effort, SGA will hold an event complete with food, music and individuals deputized to register voters.
Our effort to have the voices of the students heard even outside the boundaries of our campus will put SGA senators in touch with Texas State Senators and Representatives in order to put a student face on the needs and issues of UTD.
In order to effectively express the student side of the issues, SGA plans to host regular events, aside from our regular senate meetings, designed exclusively to foster communication between SGA senators and the students they represent. Whether it be over a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza, SGA wants to hear about your good and bad experiences at the university.
We hope that this will also present us with the chance to chat about issues like tuition, student fees, student services on campus and how we can improve.
Student services like the Student Union and Activity Center have always been important issues for the student government. Extending the hours for both buildings means that students now have more time to work out and hang out in the Student Union – 24 hours a day.
The constant improvement of our on-campus services will mean continued work with Waterview Park Apartments, the Bookstore and the International Office, as well as countless other services provided to students.
Additionally, this next year SGA will begin work improving the Online Book Exchange set up through the SGA web site. Hopefully through technological improvements, students will be able to buy and sell old textbooks to their classmates.
TeacherEvaluation.com continues to be a part of the SGA web site where students can look at reviews of their professors completed by previous students in those courses.
But SGA needs the opinions and continued input of the students in more than just these matters.
Whether or not you decide to run in the fall elections (filing begins Aug. 23 in the SGA offices), the student voice is what SGA is all about.
The vast array of issues and concerns that SGA deals with daily means that we are always looking for your perspective.
We work for you, but also with you, to make this university better with each passing year. As the new academic school year begins, it will be nothing short of exceptional.