SGA to Hold Elections for 2019-2020 School Year

The Student Government Association (SGA) of Frostburg State University is holding elections for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year.

All elected officials (President, Vice President, Treasurer) must maintain a 3.0 GPA and must complete a petition with 200 student signatures. Senators must maintain a 2.7 GPA and complete a petition with 50 student signatures. All candidates must remain undergraduates at Frostburg State during the duration of their term. To double-run, candidates must get 50 more signatures. Double running defines as running for more than one position within SGA.

The petitioning period began Feb. 28 and concludes March 7. Interested candidates must visit the SGA office (Lane 223) to check out a petition.

The President and Vice President must run as a ticket. To run for President, a candidate must have served a minimum of one semester on the Executive Board. To run for Vice President, a candidate must have served a minimum of one year on the Student Senate or a minimum of one semester on the Executive Board. Candidates for Treasurer must have completed a minimum of one semester on the Senate Finance Committee.

Student senators comprise the representative body of SGA. There are 25 senators: eight on-campus, eight off-campus, six at-large, one transfer, one non-traditional, and two freshmen senators. Senators must live in the declared constituency for the entirety of the term and serve two office hours per week. The term of the Senate members begins in the spring semester and end at the meeting of the Senate of the following spring semester.

President Ben Forrest noted that the Senate offers representation of all different constituencies and types of students at Frostburg State.

A Secretary is appointed by the President from the number of at-large senators.

The President also appoints the chairs to one of the four senate committees: governance, student affairs, public relations, and senate finance. Chairs must serve one office hour per week. Each senator ranks the committees one through four, and the President tries to appoint their choice in chair to their top pick of committee when possible. The chair is in charge of the functioning and adherence of their committee to their duties.

The governance committee is responsible for the internal adherence to the Constitution and the following of Robert’s Rules of Order. They also conduct interviews of new senators and assist in appointing the individuals to committees. The governance committee also analyzes and edits resolutions.

The student affairs committee acts on student concerns and issues. Thomas Forrest, a first-year on the student affairs committee, described their role as “working for the student.”

The public relations committee is the “public face” of SGA. Their responsibilities include promotional social media and hosting forums to spark dialogue on student concerns.

Senate finance hosts several responsibilities. They hold preliminary hearings for funding, hearings for the reserve account, and provide recommendations for what SGA should fund.

In the future, SGA will be hosting a campus wide safety walk to address safety concerns. Both on and off campus concerns will be tackled.

President Forrest urges students to participate in the student comment and concern section of each SGA meeting. The first portion of the agenda each meeting is set aside for students to voice their thoughts. The next meeting will be March 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Atkinson Room in the Lane University Center.

Elections will be held on March 26 and 27. Students can vote on Bobcat Connect or in Lane, as members of SGA will be hosting a table from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both days where students can vote in-person.

The results will be announced through a campus-wide email and will be posted on the SGA office door.

For more information about elections and SGA, please visit their office, email sga@frostburg.edu, and follow SGA on Twitter @FrostburgSGA.