January 23, 2018
Lindsey O’Reilly
As classes begin this semester, the Student Government Association is undertaking several initiatives that seek to involve students on campus.
Multiple members of the student government participate in an SGA Initiative. Initiatives for the spring 2018 semester include club and organization outreach, the Space Studies Initiative, a Washington D.C. excursion, addressing pedestrian and traffic safety and a relaunch of the Inclusive Campus Pledge Campaign.
Clubs and Organizations Outreach
The first initiative that SGA is undertaking this semester is reaching out to clubs and organizations after Spring Club Fair on Jan. 24, according to Joey Vijayam, student body president.
“We want to sit in on as many meetings with student clubs as possible. We want to understand what their UCCS experience has been like and how we can serve them better. That’s something we want to start the semester off with,” he said.
Multiple members will participate in meeting with clubs in order to identify what each club is interested in and how SGA can help.
Space Studies Initiative
The Space Studies Initiative seeks to identify what students are looking for in their resource spaces.
During winter break, SGA sent out a survey concerning what students enjoy about study spaces and how these spaces are being used on campus. Results from the survey are still being gathered tu understand how UCCS can improve study spaces.
“One question we asked ourselves was, ‘how are students being served through student spaces? Is there a way in which UCCS can better their experience?’” Vijayam said.
Washington D.C. Excursion
Okiaofe Ikimalo, senator of Multicultural Affairs and chair of Government Affairs, aims to visit Washington D.C. with political clubs on campus.
“I am planning to do an excursion to the Capitol. I want to achieve this with different political clubs on campus. There will also be a fundraising event in the next few months to bridge the gap between multicultural clubs on campus,” Ikimalo said.
Pedestrian Traffic and Safety
SGA seeks to address pedestrian traffic and safety following the death of Zack Schlagel, a freshman who was killed in a hit and run on Austin Bluffs and Stanton Road in November. They will host a pedestrian and traffic safety event in the near future.
SGA is looking to invite different members from the community to speak at this event to address the ways we can raise awareness of transporting through campus safely.
Inclusive Campus Pledge Campaign
In January 2017, SGA launched an Inclusive Campus Pledge Campaign, where members passed around smiley-face buttons alongside a pledge to promote inclusivity on campus.
The Inclusive Pledge Campaign was designed to encourage a campus environment where students could freely express their political, social and religious beliefs while understanding and accepting that others’ beliefs can differ.
SGA is working to extend this pledge to all schools in the University of Colorado system this year, according to Vijayam
“We’re working with Boulder, Denver and Anschutz to make this a full CU-wide initiative and bring in more students to this campaign,” Vijayam said.
“What I love about this campaign is that it was created by students, for students.”
Since the new semester has just begun, many of these plans are still being developed; however, SGA plans on keeping students in the loop with videos uploaded to the SGA Facebook page, edited by Angel Tran, senator-at-large.
For more information about SGA, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/UCCSSGA/.