With long, hot summer days quickly approaching, SGA is ready for a new school year with a new vice president.
Brett Parker, a junior political science major, said he is prepared to be vice president because he is vice president of his fraternity, Delta Ki.
Parker said being in a fraternity allows Parker the ability to talk to different members and get them interested in SGA.
“I like it,” he said, “and it is something that will get you involved in the school. It is a good way to branch out and say, ‘Hey look! Student government is here. Come check it out.’”
Being involved in “Greek Life” is something that current president of SGA, Andre Goodman, said he thinks will allow Parker to lead a different caliber of students to SGA.
“My hope is that Brett (Parker) can encourage Greeks to be involved in SGA,” Goodman said. “He is able to connect to people on campus and off campus.”
For Parker, moving to an executive position was a stepping-stone for the future.
“I didn’t know exactly what I was doing per say, so I didn’t want to run for president,” Parker said. “I want to dip my feet into the executive position before I really get into the role of president of SGA.”
Looking into the future, Parker said he knows the issues that he wants to see addressed.
“I want to change the way we allot money to these organizations that really don’t do anything with it,” he said. “Not to say that every student organization does this, but the people that come to us without going through the proper channels or without raising the money themselves, it bugs me.”
Along with allocating money, Parker said he is hoping the attitude of the new senators will change.
According to Parker, some of the past senators have joined SGA to put another activity on their resumes.
“I wish the people who come in (to SGA) will want to have a voice around campus,” Parker said. “This is a very apathetic campus. It takes five days to get 500 people to go vote for an SGA election: that’s absurd. I wish people would come in wanting to do work, wanting to get SGA out there, wanting to help the students out in any way they can, because that’s the point of SGA.”
Parker said he and the new president are already making plans. They hope to hold town hall meeting where the members of the executive branch will be able to answer any questions that anyone has about SGA.
Parker said that being vice president will give him some insight as to what will happen in his future career in politics.
“I hope it will increase my knowledge of the administration and workings of the school and help me with knowing how to work with people and deal with different situations,” he said.