Although Dillard University’s campus is currently under construction and students have limited access to many areas, the Student Government Association continues to plan and host events in order to maintain school spirit.
Since the beginning of the school year, SGA has hosted many events starting with welcome week for the incoming fresh persons and continuing with recent events during homecoming week. The challenge of working around a construction site and dealing with limited space has not hindered the organization from putting forth full efforts to make this school year a social success.
Mahaugane Shaw, assistant dean and director of student engagement & leadership development, positively acknowledged the work that SGA has done thus far. “SGA has done a good job to keep events coming and keeping people involved. All of the officers this year have served in leadership positions at some point, so they know how to work effectively in a group,” said Shaw.
SGA has held events such as Café’ Noir, which is a time for old and new poets or artists to share their talent with the school. They hosted a costume party and a field day. The Crunch and Munch for Midterms was a stress break program for students to get together and study for their exams while eating snacks. Trick or Treat on the Oaks was a new event that involved all of the clubs and organizations on campus. Children from approximately 40 schools were invited to partake in games which included a costume contest, a dancing contest, a cakewalk, and many other activities; SGA recently voted to make this an annual event.
The SGA provides entertainment for students
SGA Vice-President Ronnell Perry said, “Our objective is to get more people involved on campus in fun ways. It is our job to make students more aware of their ability to impact the school as far as administration and making the “New Dillard” a success.”
Organizations and committees have been developed by SGA in order to ensure that the communication between the officers and the student body is sufficient in getting everyone involved. One of those organizations is the SGA-at-large. SGA-at-large gives the student body an opportunity to be actively involved with the student government and to have a part in the student activities that are held on campus.
“SGA has been great this year. I have been to almost all the events,” said Tiffany Singleton , a junior criminal justice major.
SGA officers have also developed a coalition with the class councils. They meet every month to make sure that they have all the support of the class councils in the activities that are planned. The Student Senate is an organization that meets with all the active organizations on campus every first Wednesday of the month. The purpose of the Student Senate is to inform all the organizations on the upcoming events as well as give them an opportunity to request to host events that they have planned.
“The communication between the SGA and the students is actually not that bad. People need to learn how to read the things [flyers] that are put up on campus”, said Avon Mannings, a fresh person theater and drama major.
The biggest part of planning events is getting the students involved. It is important that everyone is aware of the events that are going on. SGA also has to make sure that no two major events conflict with each other.
The SGA plans future events
“We have to make sure that all activities are supported equally. We have to make sure that there is enough time to advertise. It is more than posting a flyer. We have to come up with creative ways to advertise,” said Shaw.
Some of the events that SGA have planned for the future are to host Café Noir at least once a month, the Black Heritage Ball and Spring Fest.
“The events on campus have been good and I look forward to what they have planned for the future. The Facebook group they have keeps everybody updated on the new events of the week. However, they [SGA] should try to put a SGA bulletin board up in the other buildings on campus,” said Reondra Hughes, a sophomore accounting major.
