The Student Government Association met on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 4:30 p.m. in University Center North, room 122. The SGA meets each Thursday to discuss upcoming events and propose legislature or recommendations to improve the state of the IUS campus.

During the meeting on Jan. 21, the SGA members discussed homecoming week preparations. Trent Wallace, advertising senior and president of the SGA, said homecoming week is the organization’s biggest project for the year.

Wallace said homecoming week includes daily events and the GUS Talks, where the SGA invites three speakers to talk to students about subjects they are passionate about. Wallace also said the annual event is modeled after TED Talks and aims to highlight speakers from IU Southeast.

Also, Jeremy Eiler, business senior, said he is currently drafting a bill to provide guest speakers at IUS with free parking passes. Eiler said he has received complaints from student organizations that guest speakers are required to pay for their parking when they come to give their presentations.

Eiler proposed that the SGA draft a budget that Campus Life can draw from whenever a guest speaker comes to IU Southeast.

The SGA will hold an open forum for student organizations to voice grievances over Campus Life. The meeting will take place on Thursday, Jan. 28 from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in University Center North, room 128.

Wallace said he enjoys finding solutions to students’ problems and wishes that more students would attend meetings to voice their concerns and thoughts about campus. Each meeting begins with roll call for SGA members and moves directly into a student forum, a time slotted for students to speak about issues concerning to them.

“Our primary goal is to help students,” Wallace said. “We like hearing student concerns and problems so we can address them. The more student voices and concerns we hear, the more we have to work with.”

Chris Schoettmer, general studies senior and senate chair of the SGA, said he joined the SGA to help improve the state of the campus. As the Senate chair, he approves senate appointees and runs the weekly meetings.

Schoettmer said the SGA likes to take things a semester at a time and approach problems as they arise.

Within the past year and a half, the SGA has helped to add Braille signs to the library, placed speed bumps on campus, and added buckle-up signs as a reminder to students leaving campus, Schoettmer said.

Students interested in joining the SGA must fill out an application from their office in University Center South and attend an SGA meeting to become a senator. An interview process will begin and, if approved, the new senator begins a two-week probationary period where they attend all meetings and functions but do not have voting power. After this period has concluded, the new senator gains voting power and beings actively serving in the SGA.