Samford students have opinions. These opinions exist in many forms; they might be posted anonymously on Fizz, chatted about between classes or even published as an article in the Crimson.
Many opinions regard changes students want to see on campus. Maybe a student is concerned about cross-contamination in the Caf. Another wants campus to be better lit when night comes. But without a direct line to administration, these ideas can only get so far.
Samford’s Student Government Association (SGA) has channels with which they can address and attempt to accommodate students’ desires. Until approximately two weeks ago, one of these channels was called the Constituent Report Form: a way for students to voice the change they want to see on campus, and subsequently see the steps being taken to enact change, if it’s possible.
SGA noticed recently, though, that the form wasn’t being utilized to its full potential. So, they began to look at ways to change that.
“When you hear ‘constituent reports’ it sounds like this long, lengthy process that you have to do. And so, we noticed that a lot of people weren’t filling them out,” said Jayla Duncan, SGA Chief of Staff. “We talked about ways that it was hard to use, and how the naming wasn’t that great, so we came up with a new name. And we also gave feedback on the ease of using the report itself, and ways that that could be better.”
The Constituent Report Form relaunched under a new name. Now, it’s called Student Suggestion Box — a name that SGA intended to sound far more inviting so that students will share their suggestions more readily.
“Nothing will be addressed unless you use your voice,” said Duncan. “These are things that we can help with, but we just have to have the proper channels to do so.”
Prodige Tshibangu, President of the Senate, is the one who receives these reports when they’re made. He shared his enthusiasm to better Samford’s campus and improve student life.
One thing Tshibangu emphasized was the amount of communication between SGA and the student constituents during the report process. He explained the process: a suggestion goes to his inbox, to committee, and then on through the channels of university administration to determine how reasonable and actionable the suggestion is. From there, it’s either passed or it’s not. But the Senators remain in close communication with the constituent to keep them updated on the process.
A recent example of this is a resolution for menstrual product accessibility in bathrooms across campus.
“SGA wants to hear students’ concerns, and senators want to work on them,” Tshibangu said. “We want to see the campus evolve. There are about 50 senators, and there’s only so much that we can see. But if we have 3000-plus undergraduates looking at things and filing suggestions, that helps the Senate and SGA make Samford better for the students.”
Students can find a link to the Student Suggestion Box by visiting the link in bio @samfordsga on Instagram, or on the Student Life Forms and Files portion of the Samford website.
Staff Reporter
