The Student Government Association recently added four freshman senators to its ranks.

Sean Rose, music performance, was elected as a College of Music and Arts senator; Blake Corley, international business, was elected as a College of Business senator; Edwin Murray, political science and sociology, was elected as a College of Social Sciences senator; and Aleksandra Golanka, philosophy, was elected as a College of Humanities and Natural Sciences senator.

“The freshman senators will need to reach out to their constituents, be available to ask their constituents questions and report back at the SGA meetings,” said Jenna Vercillo, assistant director of student leadership at Loyola. “They are responsible for their college, and any student on Loyola’s campus can approach them.”

All senators go through mandatory training where they are given an introduction to SGA and its mission, its constitution and bylaws, their specific position, the allocations process and what SGA does for the entire campus, Vercillo said.

“Senators get updated on the Collegiate Readership Program and the newspapers on campus we sponsor,” she said. “Our senators do research and filter concerns. They are really great because they do not promise that everything can be fixed overnight, but they do make sure that concerns get to the right people.”

The senators, in general, are required to complete a college-wide initiative and an initiative for the college they represent academically, said Michael Morin, SGA president and music education senior.

“The freshman senators are required to be a voice for the students and sit on internal and external committees, which help with initiatives,” Morin said.

“We are doing a new topic approach where we go out and ask students what they think about issues,” Vercillo said. “Our senators will be asking about dining services, so that’s one way our freshman senators will get involved right off the bat.”

The freshman senators have already formulated their own goals and plan to contribute within and outside of their colleges.

“I aim to act as a reliable source of information that fellow students can come to with questions about SGA function, involvement and decisions,” Rose said. “It is my ambitious goal to promote compassionate contribution to the already exemplary Music and Fine Arts programs here at Loyola.”

Corley served as his high school president in student council and decided to run for the College of Business senator after discussing what things could be improved with his classmates.

“My classmates encouraged me to run for this office,” Corley said. “I would like to implement more food options in the Danna Center and extended gym hours. We have also noticed that in the Uptown area, a lot of restaurants accept Tulane Wavebucks but not Wolfbucks. I am going to investigate ways that they can accept Wolfbucks.”

Murray also was involved in her high school’s student council. She plans to expand outreach programs for professional politicians and journalists to talk to students on campus.

“The Social Sciences department needs… politicians, journalists and any of those people that can speak and show us what they do on a daily basis,” Murray said. “I am actually trying to set up for a few politicians to come through and speak to our college and give students a better idea of what they are really signing up for.”

Golanka served as secretary and president in her high school’s student government and plans on changing the visitation policy’s time regulations and the need for resident students to check into other residence halls.

“If I can, I am going to work to try and change the freshman visitation policy by making it less strict and more realistic,” Golanka said.

Vercillo said members of SGA are excited about the new senators and plan to bring even more changes this year.

“We are really excited for student government this year and we are excited for our first-year students,” she said.

Kamaria Monmouth can be reached at [email protected]

Blake Corley, College of Business (The Maroon)

Sean Rose, College of Music (The Maroon)

Edwin Murray, College of Social Sciences (Hannah)