By Rebecca Harrelson, Staff Writer

I’m going to be honest: I, along with most of our student body, don’t give a shit about our Student Government Association (SGA). I’m not here to tell you to care or not; you can make up your own mind at the end of this article.

I can, however, inform you about whom we should put our faith and power in and whom we definitely should not.

SGA has had a rough couple of years. Joseph Graham, a sophomore at UNCG, was thrown into the presidency after the previous president up-and-quit out of the blue (professional).  Now, Graham is on the Chancellor Search Committee in addition to his presidential responsibility to serve on the Board of Trustees.

I spoke with him briefly through email, and he definitely seems to have an amazing plan and goal to redirect what others in the past have let diminish our school. I asked him the simple question of where he wants to see SGA in the future and his response blew me away (obviously he deserves this job).

“Well, I’d hope for SGA to accomplish a lot of things—both short and long term. SGA needs to gain the trust back of our students. I want our organization to make more efforts to create more tangible, visible (from the students’ eye) initiatives that will garner more support from our campus community,” Graham wrote.

I mean, I can agree. I love UNCG, and all the things I dislike about UNCG are governmental issues like tuition and financial aid, which isn’t an easy fix, yet SGA also tries to combat those issues for us. However, I do believe our students could have more school spirit, attend far more important lectures and events and feel more connected to each other regardless of their specific clique.

Graham went on to speak about the lack of legislation-passing, along with extracurricular activities: “We aren’t reaching out to organizations as much as we need to, and therefore we’re having a tough time connecting with them, collaborating on MEANINGFUL events, and just gaining their [students] support.”

My purpose for writing this piece isn’t solely to praise Graham or his seemingly capable counterpart, Brittany Hudson, but rather to say that those are the only two individuals that seem to be pushing in the right direction.

The Student Government Association’s Spring 2015 Elections have just started and I was able to read the candidates’ platforms, which basically answer the “why-you-should-vote-for-me” question.  Let me tell you, they were less than stellar; I would even go out on a limb and say they were less than subpar.

Not only did they all answer in only a couple sentences, but also none of them— with the exception of two or three— pointed out any particular organizations, causes, concerns or ways to improve our campus.

They could have just saved time and said, “Hi, I’m a cookie-cutter business major and I want this to fill space on my resume and make me look like I know how to lead and direct an entire university when really I couldn’t even tell you about the harsh issues this campus faces.”

I asked Graham what his thoughts were on the submissions; he responded with dignity and hope:

“It’s not whether I’m happy with them, it’s about what they’ve stated (or not stated) in their platforms. Just because you’re a senator, doesn’t mean your “platform” has to be one paragraph in length. I don’t see any innovation, any creativity… I see a lot of things I’ve seen before and frankly, I don’t think students have a full grasp of the positions they’re signing up for…”

Furthermore, he went on to say, “Many of the students who wish to be a part of SGA and in most cases already are a part of the organization won’t even read an article about it such as this one. I’m not sure if I have too high of expectations, but I believe in our Senate. I believe in our Constitution. And, I believe that we have very bright, capable students at this university who can deliver the type of ambition and advocacy that the Senate needs. We just have to do a better job of reaching the students that aren’t just joining SGA for a “resume buster”.”

You know what Joseph I feel that way too! Out of all the amazing men and women I have met during my four years here at UNCG, there have been so many great minds that could have turned our campus upside down and made us all love college that much more.

I can’t imagine being SGA president— the time consumption, the constant emails, the hiring and firing, the continuous thought that you could be doing more. That sounds exhausting. But damn, after reading the platforms about my schools future, I will sign up today!

UNCG needs more unification; we need open dialogue about tuition and building on campuses with our money; we need to know about the amazing lectures and discussions occurring around campus. And we definitely need more school spirit!

The Muslim Student Association, the LGBT community and various other minorities on campus need to have substantial platforms and abilities to pull in more guests and participants with open and progressive minds. The school newspaper needs to up readership and be able to connect more with the student body.

We need to mandate Greek rape culture seminars, and we need to take a stand when it comes to these sexual assault emails we are receiving once a week.

SGA can help.

That would be my campaign platform. Even without knowing anything about SGA, I have a plan in my mind for how to better this campus.

Maybe those candidates could take a lesson or two from us writers.

Communication, knowledge of other organizations, grassroots campaigning, drive, hard work and the ability to grow as a campus— that’s what UNCG needs.

Will SGA fulfill those needs?