SGA adds new legislation

KayJ Hood is a junior Studio Art major who is making an impact with her efforts to change and update SGA legislation and policies. In the last few months, Hood has taken the initiative to write legislation intended to positively impact students as well as clubs and organizations involved in the Student Government Association (SGA).

Hood spearheaded three major initiatives to ensure legislation properly reflects the needs of the student body. Starting as a class senator, Hood realized that clubs with smaller budgets were feeling the most impact in trying to achieve all three pillar events. The pillar events are events that clubs host or attend in the areas of social justice, service and sustainability. 

“I was a part of BSA [Black Student Association] and we were collaborating with Access for All Saints,” Hood said. “They wanted to do something with us [BSA] and they couldn’t put forth any money because they were saving their money to fulfill their pillar requirements.”

All legislation written has to pass with a two-thirds majority vote. This means that at least two-thirds of club representatives in attendance at the SGA meeting when the legislation is proposed have to agree on the passing of the legislation presented. This new legislation took Hood roughly three months to compose before she was able to officially propose it at an SGA meeting. 

When proposing legislation, there is a general understanding that not everyone is going to be happy with the final outcome. An outcome that stirred controversy was the legislation that Hood wrote which would allow executive board (E-board) members of a club to run for a position on the SGA E-board. 

“It was around election time and we had marketed [the election] for about two weeks,” Hood said. “That was part of the reason we kept pushing back elections. I was the only one at that point and I was running for President [of SGA].”

Many people who had expressed an interest in running in the SGA election were unable to run because they already held a position on the E-board for a club. The purpose of the legislation was to allow those interested who already held a position on a club E-board an opportunity to run for an E-board position with SGA. Many people have clubs they are passionate about and were not willing to give up for the SGA election, so this was the solution. 

“Everybody has a fair chance of getting in [the election] because the people who want to do it are also on [club] E-boards, they don’t want to lose their clubs,” Hood explained. “I wrote the legislation, it passed, and then after it passed we got Skylar, we got Ava, we got Maddie and Chloe, we got Johnathan. Elections were going after that.”

“It did do a lot for SGA, but at the same time I realize a lot of people weren’t happy about that,” Hood said. “That’s kind of the reason we have an election every year.”

As concern becomes more apparent from students allowing club E-board members to become E-board members, Hood assures them that they are following the same guidelines as everyone else. 

“At the end of the day, because they are still part of an E-board of a club they still have to submit all of the same things you guys [clubs] do,” Hood said. “I’m still checking that they have their event forms and they still have to do all the pillar requirements, E-board or not. They have the same requirements every other club does.”

Hood has made a lasting impression on SGA with the implementation of the new legislation and her experience with the allocation of club budgets. SGA receives a number which encompasses the entirety of what the club budgets will be for the following school year. Last year SGA was impacted similarly to all the other departments and had a decreased budget for the 2025-2026 school year. All of the clubs and organizations that fall under the SGA umbrella saw this reflected in their club budget with a decrease. 

“The university gives us a starting number. We look at that number and we compare it to the budget allocations from the previous year,” Hood explained. “We see if we can give everyone the same amount they had last year. Then we look at how you spent your funds and what events you did.”

These changes are intended to better the experience students have with SGA and provide a better understanding of the process that goes on before students see the changes within SGA. 

“The main hope is probably just for actively open communication. There were times where I feel like we could have done better communicating things,” Hood said. “That’s part of the reason why I put new initiatives in place like my office hours. I’m just hoping that clubs feel like I’m approachable and accessible.”

Photo credit: Scarlett LaBuda