To most students, the Student Government Association (SGA) is unimportant. For the students involved in campus activities, SGA is essential. But what does SGA really do?
And who better to talk to than SGA President Eron McCormick about what the SGA is up to? Sitting down with McCormick is great because he’s accessible and genuinely cares about the student government, for better or for worse. Sitting in his office, he was put on the spot: “Eron, can you tell me what you’ve done this semester? I have no idea.”
McCormick said that SGA has cleaned up corruption in regards to former SGA President Evelyn Nazario-Rose. He reported that the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Public Access Division, is in the process of putting together a case on the former president for conspiring to destroy records of a public meeting, thus violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Okay, that’s huge, but that’s in the past. Why would a student at NEIU care about this if he or she didn’t know about Nazario-Rose?
Then McCormick said that the SGA got the Peace Garden officiated. It’s still a little hazy as to whether or not that is really true. Why wouldn’t President Steinberg just want to sign it in anyway? It’s a great public relations move, and a needed one.
Next, McCormick told me that he had regularly scheduled meetings that reached quorum and had begun to post everything about the meetings on the SGA bulletin board in the basement of the E Building. But who even walks down there? There are few people who say, “I heard SGA had a meeting. I’m going to go check the minutes to see what happened” if they don’t have a stake in getting money from them.
The Veterans Day Concert that is in the works, McCormick said, is conscientiously targeting the veteran population at NEIU.
Eron also reported that the SGA wants to lower the credit hours necessary for leadership positions at the school. By having students who work 40 or more hours a week, have families, and take classes, he thinks it’s only appropriate that these people be given the chance to serve the NEIU community.
Then Eron threw a curveball. He stated that the wants to give up all but $500 dollars of his stipend to Model Illinois Government line items so that more students can compete in the program. Moreover, he is supporting a bill to do the same for his executive members, and according to McCormick, they’re supporting it too.
SGA doesn’t mean a whole lot for people who aren’t involved in an activity that needs money, but maybe all this will change with the new leadership this semester. The bottom line is everyone should be open to the possibility that the Student Government Association will assume a new role at NEIU: the role of community builder.