Every year, Student Government Association elections come around with the same promises: more engagement, better communication, real change.
Every year, a large portion of the student body still ends up asking the same question: what does SGA actually do?
With the new presidential candidates for the 2026–2027 school year now announced, that question feels more important than ever.
At this point, it’s not just about who wins, it’s about whether SGA is finally ready to step up.
That means something specific. It means moving past vague campaign slogans and actually showing students how things are going to run.
Not in general terms, not in buzzwords, but in clear, concrete plans. How are you going to increase outreach? What does that actually look like on a week-to-week basis? How will students know what’s happening, and more importantly, how will they know their voices are being heard?
Right now, that connection just isn’t there.
Too many things slip through the cracks. Events go unnoticed, initiatives don’t reach the broader student body, and decisions feel disconnected from the people they’re supposed to represent.
It’s not necessarily that SGA isn’t doing anything, it’s that students don’t see it, don’t feel it, and often don’t understand it. And in a role that is entirely built on representation, that disconnect is a problem.
If this next administration wants to be different, outreach cannot just be a campaign promise.
It has to be a system. Consistent communication, visible action, and intentional engagement; not just when elections roll around, but throughout the entire year.
The Turning Point USA situation was one of the first moments in recent memory where the university found itself at the center of a controversy that reached beyond campus.
Multiple news outlets picked it up. Students were talking about it constantly. It wasn’t just a campus issue, it became a public one.
And in moments like that, transparency matters.
When The Maroon and others reached out for comment, the response was often silence or “no comment.” and while that might feel like the safest move institutionally, it doesn’t sit well with students who are actively trying to understand what’s happening in their own community.
SGA is supposed to be the bridge between students and administration, especially in moments of tension or uncertainty. That can’t happen again.
This isn’t about expecting SGA to have all the answers. It’s about expecting them to show up, to communicate, and to acknowledge what students are experiencing in real time.
If SGA only speaks when things are easy, then it’s not really representing students, it’s just managing optics.
There’s also something else that makes this moment important: transparency.
Loyola is a place where students come and go quickly.
Four years sounds like a long time, but in reality, it moves fast. People graduate and leadership turns over. That means every new SGA administration isn’t just building forward, it’s often rebuilding.
Which is exactly why transparency matters so much.
SGA leaders are students first. They’ve been the ones sitting in classrooms, scrolling past emails, feeling disconnected from decisions being made above them.
They know what it’s like to feel out of the loop, to wonder if their voice matters and that experience should shape how they lead.
This role isn’t about representing an idea of students, it’s about representing actual students, with all of their different perspectives. That means engaging with all sides of a story.
It means being present even when situations are complicated or controversial.
It means remembering that leadership is not just about visibility when things are going well, but responsibility when they are not.
Students don’t need more promises. They need clarity.
They need transparency.
They need consistency.
Most importantly, they need to feel like the people elected to represent them actually understand what that responsibility means.
At the end of the day, SGA isn’t just another organization on campus.
It’s supposed to be the voice of the student body.
