By Rebekah Crozier
The Student Government Association Senate has been busy recently, passing bills to ensure a safer and more inclusive campus. One of these is a bill that suggests changes to the Multicultural Affairs Committee, which is a section of the executive board of SGA. This bill was presented at the Senate meeting on Tuesday, March 9.
The Multicultural Affairs Committee is a new organization that was founded only five years ago. It consists of 12 undergraduate students who serve to educate the student body and advise SGA organizations, particularly the Student Executive Board, on issues of diversity and inclusion on campus.
The new bill proposed to the Senate will give the M.A.C. more flexibility and a more defined role in SGA. The first draft of this bill was created in March of 2020, but it never reached the Senate due to the university shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hope Dawson, SGA president, explained what this bill consists of. It states that members cannot miss more than two meetings and the SGA president will attend each meeting. In addition, the chair and co-chair of the Diversity Committee in the Senate will start attending M.A.C. meetings to be aware of what is going on.
One of the biggest changes that is proposed in the bill is that of the role of the assistant director of the committee. Christa Chery, the director of M.A.C., revealed that the bill will give the person in this role more power, which will help alleviate the responsibilities of the director.
“The assistant director will help facilitate conversations among the entire student body, so that M.A.C. has the power to go outside the walls of SGA and permeate some of the other student organizations on campus,” Chery said.
Dawson said she was very confident that the bill would pass.
“I think M.A.C. is very important because the Student Government Association represents all students on campus, and M.A.C. helps us ensure that everyone is represented equally and fairly,” Dawson said.
Chery and M.A.C. Assistant Director Jadyn Kilgore are also hopeful for the future of M.A.C. It is something that both of them are very passionate about and have invested a lot of time in.
“Having an organization that’s sole purpose is to make sure diversity and inclusion are important on campus helps to not only hold our leadership responsible, but it also serves as a resource for our leaders to come to,” Chery said.
Kilgore believes that the Multicultural Affairs Committee is essential to achieving the goal that is at the heart of many Samford students and employees, which is to become more Christ-like.
“Jesus is for diversity, and Jesus is for inclusion,” Kilgore said. “In order to achieve that, we have to make sure that we are culturally competent.”
During the Senate meeting on Tuesday, March 9, the bill was passed with no opposition.
