During the executive session of their general body meeting, the Student Government Association (SGA) voted in favor of a resolution concerning member turnover and retention Feb. 28.
Since the spring elections of 2023, a total of 13 SGA members have resigned: two staffers, two executive vice presidents and 10 senators. Excluding the current president and vice president, six members elected to remain during the spring session.
Will McRae, senator for community and government relations;Victoria Tuvaan, executive vice president for academic affairs; and Megan Corrice, SGA’s treasurer, sponsored this resolution.
“This left SGA in a position where I, personally, don’t believe we are able to best serve and promote the needs of the student body to administration or the powers at DePaul,” McRae said.
Following its approval, the Member Retention Ad-Hoc Committee will be created.
“With this resolution, we are aiming to aid our members as well as ensuring all groups of students are represented and heard,” Corrice said.
McRae will be serving as chair of the Member Retention Ad-Hoc Committee. To best support staff members, McRae’s goal is to determine what needs to change within SGA’s processes.
“A big part of this committee is understanding that we are left with a very new General Body and Cabinet,” McRae said. “They might need different guidelines, support systems, rules and regulations in order to make us operate most effectively and serve the general body to the best of our ability.”
The deadline for this committee to present any resolutions or propose a constitutional amendment package is the fourth week of the spring quarter. McRae said that there is a possibility that the committee will present something sooner rather than later.
“I want to run fast and effectively to identify the problems, so we don’t have any more resignations,” McRae said.
With few voting members from the 2023 spring election remaining, McRae said that they are left unable to provide those new to SGA with guidance and multiple mentors. McRae expressed gratitude to those who guided him in the past and taught him about the best way he could operate as a senator.
“I truly believe that everyone in SGA is working their hardest to serve the student body,” McRae said. “ With that being said, it is a lot harder because there are not the experienced members who know how to push things and get things done. We’re all on a new learning curve.”
McRae hopes to identify improvements that can be made in time for newly elected senators of the 2024 spring election to assume their roles on SGA. He wants this committee to create a space where new and returning SGA members can operate efficiently, with the necessary support structures that are possibly missing.
“(There has been) a shift in the dynamics of SGA, who’s around — this is a whole new general body and there hasn’t been a lot of retention,” McRae said. “The goal is to get a resolution out and, maybe, get amendments passed, so that new members and returning members are able to feel comfortable in SGA.”
Now that McRae has been elected to serve as chairman, the next step SGA will be taking is to populate the Member Retention Ad-Hoc Committee.
“We don’t like seeing students without representation in our senate and I share in our member’s desire to bring more consistency to our senator roles,” Vice President Avery Schoenhals said.
Schoenhals said he feels this resolution is a testament to the passion for student representation among current SGA senators.
“They recognized that when members chose to leave their positions midyear, they effectively left their student populations without a voice to administrators and in SGA,” Schoenhals said. “I’m really proud of the members who took the initiative to create this resolution.”
