Chris Segal
News Assistant
Changes last semester to the structure of SGA and the Programming Board (PB) will affect the future of campus policies and events. Student leaders have developed their visions of each group’s role for the new school year.
SGA and PB split in March, making them equal student organizations with different objectives. Since its creation five years ago, PB has been under the jurisdiction of SGA and is focusing on planning events. SGA members are strictly policy makers.
SGA spent the summer talking about its ideas and goals for the Pepperdine community and reprioritizing its mission to concentrate on passing resolutions.
“The purpose of SGA is to give students on campus a voice,” said SGA President Carl Kasalek. “I think it is going to allow us much more time to focus on the actual governmental politics on campus, making the changes students want and making things happen.”
SGA is looking to change its image on campus to emphasize its “open ear” and “open door” policies, Kasalek said. The vision, which will be announced at the first meeting Sept. 1, is to create an relaxed atmosphere for Pepperdine students to address their ideas and concerns.
With the new focus on “governmental politics,” Kasalek has been meeting regularly with Mark Davis, dean of Student Affairs, to try to obtain a seat on the University Management Committee, to offer a student’s voice.
“In the past, SGA might not have approached changes on campus in a proper researched manner,” Kasalek said. “But … if we presented an entire package … and present that to administration, they are much more apt to go along with what we really think should happen if they have that supporting evidence. Versus if we just kind of submit a makeshift resolution, which I think has happened in the past, and that the new image that we are trying to portray this year is that we are much more complete.”
Pepperdine charges each student a $45 activity fee. SGA receives $25 per student of the fee each semester as its sole source of funding. PB receives the other $20 per student to fund campus events. SGA, which currently has no outside funding, is trying to bring in sponsors and to offset some costs.
SGA meetings are open to all students and are held each Wednesday night. Freshmen can get involved by applying for one of the seven or eight senator positions or by attending committee meetings.
“I would really like the upper classmen … to greet us with a clean slate and an open mind,” Kasalek said. “This group is going to be very different from what they’ve seen in the past.”
The PB has two executive directors: senior David Lock, who handles finance and administration; and senior Morgana Wingard, who manages campus-community relations and news. PB is housed in an office in the Student Activities office, in TAC adjacent to their faculty advisor Justin Schneider.
PB’s mission is to “plan, organize and execute events for the Pepperdine University community,” according to its mission statement. Also, the board “strives to create a new heightened level of morale, pride and energy in our community through the provision and stewardship of a comprehensive program of social and recreational events.”
PB has not drafted a constitution.
“There are other things that we have to attend to that are totally out of our control,” Wingard said. “We are doing the best that we can, and are getting September together, events-wise.”
PB and SGA are working together to plan the Midnight Madness event, which due to copyright restrictuions will be renamed. This event is a tradition to support the basketball team.
08-30-2004