By Quincy Fuehne

The Student Government Association reassembled for the first time this school year August 31 with only a few senators present.

The governing body began its meeting with guest speaker Larry Ruemmler, a voter registration advocate.

Ruemmler volunteers his time by registering people to vote. He goes door to door in Quincy asking residents if they are registered, and if they are not, if they would like to be.

He stressed the importance of voting and the simplicity of getting yourself registered.

SGA plans on holding voter registration days for students throughout September before the upcoming election on November 6.

“Our initiative is really just to spark the drive for young people to get involved in the political systems because we see that as a problem,” Co-President Mary Argana said.

You can register with a senator on September 10, 17 and 24.

One big goal for the senate this year is to give students a better experience and making the university more like a home.

“I know my freshman year it was a different environment than it is now for sure, but I think it’s definitely on its way to becoming more and more of a home for these kids. It’s quite a change from high school to college,” Jack Waddell, SGA senator, said.

The next big event to boost student experience is homecoming. SGA plans to organize the powder puff football game and the coronation that week.

The group split into two committees for these events. The committees will be in charge of the planning, advertising and budget of the event.

Voting for money spent on each event will be settled within each separate committee.

“You don’t have to necessarily have everyone’s approval,” Argana said after being questioned about needing the full senate’s vote to spend money on events.

The powder puff committee hopes to get the faculty involved in the night.

Another way SGA plans on enhancing the student experience is to make improvements or changes around campus.

Senators are required to write a short legislative piece proposing a campus project.

The proposal should have details regarding the project, including a budget and how they plan to go about that change.

The legislation will be due at the end of September.

SGA advisor Fr. John Doctor encouraged senators to think about ways to get the SGA brand out there for students to know who they are and what they do.

Matt Friddle, a sophomore transfer, says he is not really familiar with the SGA on QU’s campus. The idea is new for him considering it was not a large organization at his previous school either.

He is unsure of what SGA exactly does for the school.

Friddle’s suggestion for the governing body lines up with Doctor’s suggestion.

“I would like to see more promotion for the student body,” Friddle said.

For now, the senate is considering signage around campus and residence halls and possibly advertising during streamed university sports productions.

The SGA typically meets on Friday afternoons at 1:00 p.m. but will not have a regular meeting Sep. 7. The homecoming committees will be meeting separately in place of the senate’s weekly meeting.

This is the fist year that this senate is governing under its new constitution.