With finals looming, it’s time to start reviewing. It’s when you look over a semester’s worth of notes that you realize how much you’re learned and achieved. The Student Government Association wants to let you know what we’ve accomplished this fall.
Before the semester began, we were advocating for higher-education funding on Capitol Hill. SGA President Andrew Friedson and other SGA members worked with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) to lobby for a federal loan grant bill, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Friedson was the only student in the country to testify before the U.S. Education Department regarding the legislation’s implementation, and he is now working on the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
In Annapolis, the SGA made our voices heard loud and clear. We lobbied lawmakers, testified before several committees and garnered support for higher-education funding from numerous state leaders. We successfully recruited a large group of university students to join others from around the state to rally for a dedicated funding source. Our efforts saved our university from $43 million dollars in funding cuts, or a potential 12 percent tuition increase. We also worked with Del. John Bohanan to create a panel of student representatives to ensure student input when a higher education funding formula was formed.
The SGA has been a strong force in our community as well, with housing and safety issues at the top of our list. We successfully fought for plans to add more than 5,000 new beds on and around the campus. We ensured heavy student participation in the East Campus development process, effectively pushing for a student focus group and student presence on the steering committee.
To address safety issues, SGA funded a police auxiliary person to be stationed at McKeldin Library during finals week. Earlier in the semester, we organized our annual safety walk to address concerns with university and city officials as well as students. Freidson also convinced the city of College Park to dedicate funding toward installing more lighting in student residential areas.
The SGA exists not only to serve the students but also to work with them. We’ve been adamant in developing new programs and expanding existing ones. We helped bring Power Shift, the largest youth conference in the world for climate change to the campus, equitably allocated $303,972 in second-semester funding to more than 100 student groups, successfully recognized 15 new groups, gave over $4,300 in emergency funding through our group help program, offered groups a second chance at appeals for funding and expanded the “Good Morning Commuters” breakfast program.
We organized numerous community-building events this semester. Our most successful was the second annual Crab Fest where more than 1,300 students shared a great tradition in Cole Field House at almost $5 less per ticket than last year. This year’s SGA also put on a Summer Block Party complete with carnival rides and organized a haunted house that bought in over 300 attendees.
At the same time, we maintained a strong presence in academia through expanding the Collegiate Readership Program by providing an additional 180 free national newspapers at our newsstands daily. We also helped to implement online course evaluations and worked to remind professors to submit their booklists to save students money.
The SGA reshaped our policies internally for the benefit of the university community. We brought back mandatory legislator service initiatives and several have already been completed. We passed our election rules well before campaign week and earlier than any other administration before us. We also passed important legislation, including bills to support domestic partnership at the university, protect students from being kicked out of campus housing and reject RIAA’s attempts to extort money from students.
Our organization has come a long way this semester and we are thrilled of what we’ve accomplished to better serve you, but our efforts are far from over. We’re excited for a fresh start in January and a calendar of projects and events is already in the works. As always, we welcome any suggestions or concerns from our constituents, which can be e-mailed to us at sga@umd.edu. We are proud to continue to serve you. Good luck with finals!
The Student Government Association can be reached at sga@umd.edu.
