As Student Government Association elections approach, the university is reminded of the accomplishments and challenges of this year’s SGA.

This year’s government has been run by Michael Morin, president and music education senior, and Haley Humiston, vice president and mass communication junior, along with representatives from each class and college. Over the past two semesters, SGA has implemented a number of initiatives aimed at improving student life on campus.

Several clubs were given charters by SGA including the Volleyball Club, Swim Club, RTDNA and most recently the Coalition, a club focused on increasing retention rates, fostering ideals of community and preventing racism among African-American males.

Students were receptive to the initiative for shuttles to Voodoo Music Festival and to the airport during holidays.

Corinne Schnee, music industry sophomore, found the shuttles to be convenient and helpful.

“The shuttles were a great way to get to and from the festival and made going home for winter break easy and less stressful,” Schnee said.

SGA also attempted to generate better communication with constituents with Constituency Week in which senators reached out to students to find out what issues were important them.

“It was a great start to the year to get our representatives out and involved with their constituencies. We gained useful insight as to the issues students were most concerned with,” Morin said.

Dear Loyola, a photography project held in March, was another SGA and University Programming Board initiative that was held as part of the centennial celebration that was well received by students.

In honor of Loyola’s centennial, SGA helped organize Loup Garou, a free concert at the Howlin’ Wolf featuring Fitz and The Tantrums.

SGA recently merged with UPB in order to gain better communication and more effective programming through a combined effort.

Some problems also arose within the organization. Their website has not been kept up to date with senate meetings and information. Senator attendance at weekly meetings was very low at times, which limited the knowledge the government had about constituent issues.

Some of these issues, like low senator attendance, were addressed and improved according to Humiston in the Dec. 7 issue of The Maroon.

“The senators who may have had a rough patch in attendance have made up for this in other areas of SGA,” Humiston said.

Overall, government officials said they are pleased with the work members have done this semester.

“We made a lot of great changes and implemented some great services for students,” Morin said.

Mary Jameson can be reached at [email protected]