SGA representatives announced goals for the upcoming year at their first general body meeting of the semester Wednesday.
Here are some highlights of what they have coming up:
Student Affairs
The Student Affairs committee will focus its efforts on college affordability, diversity and inclusion, student tailgates, city engagement and sexual misconduct prevention during the 2016-17 school year, Student Affairs Vice President A.J. Pruitt said.
Pruitt, a junior economics and government and politics major, said his committee is “striving not just for equality but equity.”
Several Student Government Association members participated in a town cleanup on Sunday to kick off the year and demonstrate a commitment to the College Park community.
The SGA will also have a separate committee on sexual misconduct prevention for the first time this session.
Junior physiology and neurobiology major Taylor Aguiar will lead the committee.
Governmental Affairs
The committee for governmental affairs will continue its voter registration initiative and revive efforts to pass an intern tax credit bill in Annapolis this year, committee director Mihir Khetarpal said.
More than 1,800 students at the University of Maryland registered to vote between mid-August and Sept. 7, said Khetarpal, a junior economics and government and politics major.
In March, SGA representatives testified in Annapolis in support of a bill that would grant tax credit to companies that employ interns in Maryland, but it did not pass in the 2016 session.
“The goal is to get it passed,” Khetarpal said, “but last time we didn’t have a sponsor in the house so that’s the main aspect we’re working on.”
President’s Remarks
SGA President Katherine Swanson also delivered a state of the campus address Wednesday, in which she recapped the Aug. 31 town hall with University of Maryland Police and highlighted achievements of SGA members so far this session, including student voter registration.
Swanson said one of her goals is “keeping [the SGA’s] momentum going and really working to foster relationships with administrators.”
“The work we do here right now is not just for us,” Swanson said. “It’s really for the students that come after us.”