The Student Government Association (SGA) senate held its regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel to pass one resolution and hear speeches from the two candidates for executive president.
Senate considered one resolution during the meeting: senate resolution 200 – 43, “asking that Union University would look into increasing the hourly wage rate that it pays its student workers.” Noting that 50% of on-campus jobs pay minimum wage, senators Jess Bogle and Merry Ashlyn Gatewood presented the legislation suggesting that university administration investigate a possible increased, competitive pay scale by means of committee and student feedback on assessment day.
“We saw a general need in the student population, and we want to meet that need because that’s our job as SGA: to meet the needs of students, to make Union better and make life a little bit easier for everybody, hopefully,” Bogle, a junior journalism and biblical studies double major said.
“We want students to be more able, or feel less stressed about feeling like they have to get a second job off-campus because it is stressful to have two jobs. Money is a stressful thing. So, we want people to be able to work on-campus where they have a better schedule; and they don’t have to commute; and they’re getting to be around peers.” Bogle continued.
The sponsors presented the resolution with the novel assistance of a slideshow presentation to showcase data on current wages, the results of a student poll on the legislation, an analysis of what the legislation would ask and feedback from both students and the director of the Vocatio Center, Stephanie Hawley.
The only debate on the resolution consisted of a brief endorsement by Lambda Chi Alpha senator Addison Coleman. The body appeared to pass the resolution without a single opposed vote.
“We were prepared for a long discussion because we thought it would be a lot more controversial than that,” Bogle said. “I think just having the PowerPoint, and showing we were that prepared and that we had thought about it—it wasn’t just something like ‘oh we want more money.’ We had thought about it, and there are students who aren’t in SGA who had thought about it; that’s why we had the quotes from other students. That helped say ‘yes, this is something we have highly considered.’”
Although the legislation is pending administration approval, Union has already begun to form a committee and hopes to raise student wages in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to Bogle.
The senate meeting featured campaign speeches from the two candidates for the 2022 SGA executive president office: junior biblical studies-languages and political science double major Nicholas Bitterling and junior business major Steve Williams.
Bitterling centered his remarks on the reasons why he loves SGA and proposed two policy focuses for his administration: “to equip class councils to reach out,” and to “make senate conducive to good debate.”
“There’s a lot of room for growth in SGA, and there is some truth in the things people say about us. I want to change that. I want students to respect SGA and see the value in it like I do. I want them to see what it could be and invest in it to help it become that. I want to get more people involved in SGA from different groups on campus, so that SGA is more representative of Union’s student body, and at the very least, I want students to see that we actually do things,” Bitterling said.
Williams centered his remarks around his prior experience with student government, both in high school and at Union. He highlighted three goals for his administration: “engaging students with SGA,” “energizing senate” and “embracing excluded groups.”
“One of the most important things Jesus has taught me is servant leadership. I believe servant leadership should be what defines SGA because at the end of the day, that is the purpose of student government. We are supposed to serve our student body well by making everyone’s voice heard. As SGA president, some ways I would try to fulfill this mission of serving our student body well is by engaging, energizing and embracing,” Williams said.
Voting for the SGA executive board positions opened on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 9 a.m. and will close on Monday Nov. 8. All board positions are on the ballot, but only the executive president position has multiple candidates running. Ballots were sent to the student body via Union email.
During the meeting, Senate also passed three bills to fund student organizations:
Senate bill 200 – 40 allocated $200 to Delight ministries for use in weekly meetings and service events.
Senate bill 200 – 41 allocated $200 to Excel leadership program for use in the angel tree program.
Senate bill 200 – 42 allocated $200 to the gardening club for use in constructing gardening boxes for the spring season.
Senate will reconvene for the final meeting of the fall semester on Nov. 17 at 9:30 p.m. for the bi-annual “Dub senate,” when Union University President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver addresses the body.
