SGA tries to enhance its image
Results of survey lead to start of PR campaign
By Dominic Desmond, news editor
Posted on January 18, 2007

After receiving a tepid response from an all-undergraduate survey the SGA conducted last semester, the student government will undertake a campaign to bolster its image over the course of the semester.

“We didn’t get the response we were hoping for,” said Senate Speaker Stephanie Genco (Sr.). “Hopefully [this] semester we’ll do something that will give us more information.”
 
She went on to say that it was hard to get the response the student government was looking for, especially since the survey was conducted at the end of last semester.

The SGA, Genco said, will start a public relations campaign next month that will consist of a series of flyers listing SGA accomplishments and even a press conference.

“We want to use as many communication sources the university has to offer to get this started,” Genco said.

Student Body President, junior Brandon Eickel, also has a few plans to revitalize SGA’s image across campus and improve communication with students. At last Friday’s Board of Visitors meeting, Eickel laid out plans to potentially podcast senate meetings from the SGA Web site.

“In my mind, it’s a communication problem,” Eickel said regarding the student body’s general apathy toward SGA.

Senior computer science major John Malene said he’s always been too busy to follow what the SGA does, and said he is not sure what the SGA can do. Malene does not remember receiving the survey last semester, but said he might have filled it out.

“It doesn’t seem like there are a lot of issues they can fix,” Malene said.

Attending class mainly on the East side of campus, he said the biggest concern he has is parking.

“The only thing that matters to me is parking,” he said. “I don’t know how much they can do.”

In the upcoming media blitz, the SGA plans to bombard students with a list of its accomplishments over the last four years. Vice President of Administrative Affairs Lee Brooks (Jr.) said the most important endeavor was orchestrating the Title IX rally in Washington, D.C., last fall. Also, passing a bill of opinion regarding the BOV’s decision to cut 10 sports from JMU’s athletic program was another feat Brooks said the SGA accomplished.

Brooks said he does not think such a cool response to the survey, which was only filled out by about 280 undergraduates of the total 16,000, is that big of an issue. He said he knows many students usually just delete e-mails that come from the university, and that students wouldn’t hesitate to delete a message from the SGA unless a student had a strong opinion about the body. Brooks also said there was no monetary incentive for students to take time to complete the survey.

“[The response] was enough to get something out of [the survey],” Brooks said. He went on to say it’s going to be hard for the SGA to communicate to the university that it is a relevant institution when the student body feels apathetic or negative toward it.