As the first semester for the 2022-23 year wrapped up, the Student Government Association members were given a chance to relay their final words on the semester. Jake Taylor ‘25, the Speaker of the Senate for the sophomore class, gave a short summary of the semester and how he felt it ended.

“This has been a long semester, a difficult semester, but I feel very fulfilled by the work we have been able to get done,” said Taylor ‘25.

Day to day, SGA works behind the scenes to make sure Loyola is more than just a campus but a home away from home for fellow Greyhounds. SGA does more than just work with clubs to help them run the events they want to host. They do things that may seem minuscule to some, like helping students with parking ticket violations. 

Sarah Gomez ’23 who has been on SGA for the past four years and is currently the Secretary of Senate delved briefly into the work SGA is doing for students that receive parking tickets. She described how the members of the Senate are currently working to try to find a better way of providing proof for students receiving parking tickets without bias.

“We’ve done a lot of parking tickets this semester and I feel like parking tickets have always been a topic of confusion. Right now we’re working with our Director of Student affairs, Avi Ali, to try to figure out a way to do online parking tickets so that there can actually be proof provided with the parking tickets,” Gomez said. “As of right now we only get a piece of paper with an explanation from the officer that gives the tickets and then the student that receives the tickets and it’s like all word of mouth. It’s he said versus she said and it’s crazy.” 

SGA members say student outreach isn’t always easy on a campus full of busy students who are sometimes trying to find their footing in the world and do not have the time to slow down and make connections. It can sometimes be easy to forget that your voice is important and that the smallest of voices can be the most powerful. However, when making connections, it can be agreed that there is always more to be done.

“I think that there is also something to be said for the fact that there are students that aren’t on social media. I think we’re doing all the right things with tabling and such,” Taylor said. “We just ought to do more of them because for every student we’re reaching, there’s another that missed it. So, we can sort of multiply out of what we’re currently doing to cast as broad a net as we can.”

As Greyhounds, holding others accountable for their actions is very important. Without accountability, there is not much that can be said for one’s actions. 

Alexis Faison ’24, Junior Class President, said, “I think as an organization we’re always looking at our areas of improvement and how are we capitalizing upon that but also making sure that the student body is aware of that. At the end of the day, if you brief people on what’s going on and where you want to improve, I feel like that kind of spreads throughout campus. And when people know that, they know that you’re working towards this goal and they’ll hold you accountable towards that goal.”

As the spring semester gets underway, Claire Perkins ’23, Student Body President, speaks briefly on her hopes for the semester as the president of SGA.

“For this semester, I’m hopeful that we continue to build that culture of students feeling supported and that they can trust student government, I think that students feeling that they can go to their student government association for concerns or support is something that definitely lacked in the past and that’s something I really want to see change,” said Claire Perkins.

As students, it can be easy to forget that there are people willing to listen and fight for your concerns no matter how simple they may seem. Darielle Runner-Draper, senator for the class of 2023,  wants students to be comfortable with their class representatives. She strives for students to be able to trust that their worries are not only being heard but being advocated for.

“We’re all human, we’re approachable, we want to have conversations, and we want to hear your opinions. Whether it be about the food on campus or something like you don’t like a certain color of something, we want to know about that because every voice really does matter,” said Draper. 

Featured Image Courtesy of Goldy Lomotey.