New SGA Committee Aims to Improve Relationships with Cultural Groups on Campus

SGA Diversity and Inclusion Committee meets on Thursday 

(photo by Alex Gereda-Gordon) 

By Abby Holland and Alex Gereda-Gordon

The Student Government Association (SGA) Diversity and Inclusion Committee met on Thursday evening to discuss measures of bridging the disconnection between Trinity student cultural groups and SGA.

“One of the main purposes of this committee is to make SGA more for the students,” said Taylor Volzer, Class of 2020 senator and head of the committee. “Right now there is a lot of miscommunication and SGA is missing a lot of issues on campus. A purpose of this committee is to be on the forefront and stop some of these issues from happening in the first place.”

One of these issues is unequal funding for cultural groups compared to that for other student organizations.

“Cultural student groups on average are the ones that are less likely to get their funding and I would like to see those numbers rise to be on par with all the other student groups on campus,” said Ben Falcon, Class of 2020 senator and committee member.

Falcon stressed the importance of equal funding opportunities, saying “I want to see an actual shift in the disparity in funding requests.” The committee agreed that such a shift needed to start with the preliminary meetings.

In order for a student organization to receive funding from SGA, they first have to go through a preliminary meeting with SGA members. Following this, they have a final presentation at a general or finance meeting to officially ask for funding. However, these preliminary meetings can often be problematic.

One problem is that representatives from cultural groups don’t know what will be asked during the preliminary meeting and therefore are not well prepared. Some feel that the senators sometimes fail to take good notes during the preliminary meeting, which impedes full understanding of funding requests. “At the end of the day, these two couple together and weigh down the presentation, making their case weaker and less likely to be voted on,” said Falcon.

Per the committee’s suggestion, the SGA is seeking senators’ feedback and advice on ways to reform the preliminary meeting, so the process is more straightforward for all student organizations, including cultural groups.

Volzer formed this committee in February, as she saw a need for SGA to address diversity issues. Volzer had previously served on the university’s Diversity Committee. “I think one of our main goals is just increase transparency; kind of help build that relationship between SGA and the cultural organizations. I think a lot of it is lack of communication and trust,” said Volzer.

Julia Shults, Senator Emeritus, had a similar view. “One facet of this communication problem is SGA's failure to reach out to minority groups on campus.”

Thursday was only the third meeting for the committee, one of five SGA sub-committees. They also discussed diversity issues with roommates, diversity issues with roommates, diversity training for student leaders, and more collaboration with Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC).

Long term goals for the committee include making sure diversity issues continue to be addressed and encouraging more people from cultural groups to run for SGA positions, so they can have a voice in the student government.