DePaul University’s Student Government Association works year round trying to ensure students’ voices are heard and issues are addressed around campus. However, some first and second-year students are feeling disconnected from the organization and their designated senators.

Some students said they find it hard to approach concerns or situations they want addressed by the organization.

“As a second-year student I don’t feel very connected to the second year senator, unfortunately, I don’t even know who it is,” Kenzie Verheyen, a sophomore at DePaul University, said.

According to the organization’s website, SGA is “committed to promoting and advocating the student voice and opinion.” Therefore, the organization has put together a group of executive officers and senators to represent the student body at DePaul. SGA consists of 10 executive officers and 22 senators ranging from class senators to representatives for The Theatre School. Elections for SGA are held every Spring and Fall quarters on campus.

Not only are underclassmen feeling the disconnect, upperclassmen who have attended the university for more than two years are also at a loss for whom to contact with a concern.

“The only connection I feel to SGA is through the promotion of events they put together throughout the year,” Carly Carynski, a senior and transfer student at DePaul, said.

“It looked like a great organization that would not only strengthen my ties to the school, but also give me an opportunity to explore student concerns and help to address them,” Emily Duddleston, the current parliamentarian of SGA and former senator, said.

The student-led organization holds general board meetings on Thursdays that are open to all students to attend and voice their concerns about things happening on campus. SGA’s initiatives include: affordability of education, campus affinity, incoming administrators, affordability of textbooks, sustainability and more.

SGA President Casey Clemmons said the organization is “constantly thinking, envisioning and implementing new ways to engage with the student body.”

A handful of nonmember students attend the general body meetings, as well as a few invited faculty members. However, many first and second year students are unaware of the fact that SGA holds these meetings. The students that do know about the meetings see it more as an opportunity they would take if they wanted to involve themselves more in the organization, not to address concerns.

“I’m sure I would attend if I wanted to get more involved within SGA,” Verheyen said.

The designated class senators of SGA hold “out of office” office hours where they sit in Brownstones or the Loop Campus for students to approach them about issues or concerns, however, some students said the times and locations of these office hours aren’t brought to the attention of students in a way that they will remember and plan a visit.

“I feel like there is very little contact between most students and their senator, unless they are just more involved with clubs and activities,” Verheyen said.

Some first year students replied with “not at all” when asked if they would know what steps to take to address an issue they had on campus with SGA. Some also suggested that the SGA senators make themselves more available to the students of their designated class.

“At least by making their email addresses available and reassuring their academic grades that they are always willing to hear what students have to say,” Maria Giannetos, a first year student at DePaul, said.

SGA has nearly tripled their number of followers on Twitter in the past year and gained a steady following on Instagram and Facebook. The organization sees this as a way for students to get to know them more and have another outlet to voice their Opinions.

“SGA is beginning to have so many members and different representatives that it can make it hard to distinguish who is the representative for which group of students,” Jake Boria, the first-year senator of SGA, said.

In the beginning of the year when some students were campaigning, some incoming freshmen saw senators posting on their designated Facebook group for the graduating class of 2017, but hadn’t heard from them since. Also, according to freshmen students in that Facebook group, a few issues were brought up from students and initially addressed by the senator, but students were unsure if it was ever taken care of by the lack of follow up from their representative.

“It was one of the days that we were experiencing extremely low temperatures and, as a commuter, I did not find it right that DePaul did not seem to care about the safety of the majority of their students – the commuters,” Giannetos said. “There were several hundred Facebook comments concerned with the daily commute and an SGA leader responded saying she would forward these apprehensions to someone higher up, although it did not seem to do anything.”

The executive board members of SGA explained how they are taking many steps in order to better hear students and their issues with DePaul, not just by actively engaging on social media, but also by keeping their ears peeled for insight from students in order to best help the student body and address their concerns.

“I commonly find myself listening to my peers in class, in the Student Center or even on the CTA, talking about things they wish DePaul would do,” Brandon Davis, SGA Treasurer, said.

There is more hope than uncertainty for students at DePaul looking to depend on SGA as an outlet for their Opinions and concern.

“I would hope that if I was very concerned about something, that SGA would take time to listen,” Carynski said.