The Student Government Association’s Senate room is located in GC 150. Photo by FIU courtesy of Creative Commons.
Brandon Wise/Editor-in-Chief
Last fall, SGC-MMC President Liane Sippin began an internship program within the Student Government Association.
The group began with approximately 40 students in August and has maintained all of its members heading into the spring.
“We were able to incorporate the CLS office with their programs so that they could get leadership building and learn about SGA,” Sippin said. “These are newer students who don’t really know about FIU.”
This semester, Sippin wants to focus on mentorship and get the student interns more involved. But not all SGA programs have worked out the way she thought they would.
She has decided that the Students With A Goal program won’t be continued this semester.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do both SWAG and the internship program but I thought ‘let’s try it out and give students a shot to still participate who missed the deadline for the internship program,’” Sippin said. “But we only had about five students and I wanted to get around 15.”
Sippin also noted that the Senate has not lived up to the expectations she had for it in the fall.
“They were a little bit slower in trying to write resolutions and bills,” Sippin said. “I don’t know if it was that they didn’t have the experience because they were brand new or what. I’ve been upset about it. They haven’t even really been participating.”
Sippin said that she and the Senate met on Monday and more than half showed up for its meet and greet in the Graham Center Pit.
The most encouraging part of the fall semester for Sippin was being able to get the charging stations in GC, even though she originally thought it was a dumb idea.
“I haven’t heard much negative feedback, even though there’s a few kinks to work out,” Sippin said. “I want to get other spots around campus like the Engineering Center or the Rec Center, but I haven’t talked to anybody over there yet.”
For the rest of her term through April, Sippin will be prepared for both budgeting for clubs and groups on campus, as well as SGA elections.
“I feel like I’m done,” Sippin said. “We still have all these programs happening in spring and it’s only four months. It’s hard to include anything else.”
– brandon.wise@fiusm.com
This is really sad. What is Liane doing with the administration? If the senate isn’t producing any legislation then what’s the purpose of a Student Government senate. Are my fees really paying her incompetence? WTF?!!!!!!!!
James,
I am the new Senate Speaker for the SGA at MMC and if you would like to know what the Senate did in the past semester, please feel free to reach out to me. My email is naqua001@fiu.edu and I have a detailed report of all that Senate did for the FIU student body during the Fall semester. The portion of the article above regarding Senate inactivity, while given from Presidents perspective, is not entirely accurate.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Regrds,
Nick Aquart
SGA Senate Speaker