The University of Illinois Springfield’s Student Government Association (SGA) will host elections on April 12 and 13. Voting will be held through UIS Connection and is accessible to all students here. This election cycle, approximately 47 students are running for various positions. The remaining SGA staff released a statement about the upcoming changes made to the bylaws of the SGA and about their professional conduct.

After March 5, Emmanuelle Yakana assumed the role of SGA President through the rest of the 2022-2023 term. She recently sent an email detailing the changes that SGA has taken to ensure equity and create a more representative student government; here are some of those noteworthy changes:

• The SGA website has now uploaded recordings of all meetings from this past year and has promised to upload all of their minutes. Hopefully, this will also become a standard practice for the incoming SGA body.
• A resolution has passed to require all SGA members to undergo SOFA training.
• There is an NCBI training that all elected members are encouraged to attend on April 23^rd.
• The current SGA passed a resolution to recognize Indigenous People’s Day.
• The Campus Police, Title IX, and the Dean of Students have been invited to the next SGA meeting.

While these are beneficial changes being made to this organization, with elections coming up, it is hard to say if these changes to the student government will be upheld. It is up to the student body to be well-informed voters and elect a student government that represents our values.

At the moment, 43 students are running for SGA positions. The roles and permissions granted to each elected student are detailed vaguely in the SGA bylaws- posted on UIS Connection and the SGA webpage. The campaign statements of each individual running can be found here. Here are summaries of the main positions:

• President- The president of SGA is in charge of maintenance (Clause A, D), agenda setting (Clause B), “ensuring all students speak at the SGA meetings” (Clause E), signing resolutions (Clause F), serving as a representative to the Higher Education Student Advisory Council (Clause G), hiring and appointing various positions throughout SGA (Clause H). When voting for the president, keep in mind that you are then voting for External Vice President, Parliamentarian, and Web/Social Media manager, as those are appointed positions by the SGA president. Three individuals are running for this position at the moment, Aubrie Mozingo, Emmanuella Yakana, and Dominick Vessini.
• Student Representative to the Board of Trustees- This individual reports to SGA on the work of the Board of Trustees (Clause A). Five people are currently running for this position: Miguel M. Valente, Josh Rowzee, Brady Wilson, Daisy Solorzano, Kyle Ingram, and Maricela Arce.
• Internal Vice President- Has the power to act on behalf of the President and can call a special meeting (Clause A), will organize public forums twice per semester (Clause E), makes nominations for campus senate positions (Clause D), and runs committee reports. Essentially, this position runs internal SGA committees and communicates with the public. Currently, Durga Bhavani Madamsetti, Chris Johnson, and Rueben Solomon Pindi are running for the position of Internal Vice President.
• Secretary- The SGA bylaws define the role of the secretary by collecting minutes (Clause A, B), correspondence to the executive committee is through the Secretary (Clause C), and the Secretary signs resolutions as well as archives them. Mauro Montalvo is running for this, as well as Nagaraju Thallada.
• Treasurer- This role includes reporting on SGA’s expenditures and finances (Clause A, B, C). Wonder Odutola is running for this position uncontested.

There are a variety of senate positions for SGA, and all of them are classified as representing the general student body as well as voicing concerns from their elected constituency.

• • The individuals running for the Senator from the College of Business and Management are Krushangi Lokeshbhai Patel and Ayomide Deborah Daramola.
  • Senator from the College of Health, Science, and Technology is being contested by Anirudh Paka, Godson Davies, Pavani Unnam, and Janice Akpoboro.
  • The Senator position from the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences has two potential electees, Ken Takao and Emma West.
  • The Senator from the College of Public Affairs and Education has five people running for it, including Matthew Edwards, Alex Rankin, Danielle Webster, Eniola Babington, and Bwayisak Tanko.
  • Graduate Student senator has Jessica Bondada, Akhila Indukuri, Sravani Pasupulati, Vikasa Gidshala, Shewthamsh Janumanchi, Sam Oluwole, Bala Venkata Sai Vamsi Krishna Boppe, and Jennifer David running for it.
  • Undergraduate Student Senator has JJ Joseph and Muhammad Hamdan Sulaiman running.
  • Online Student senator has Zachariah Conlee, Rachel Warner, and Dominic Hayford running.
  • Campus Resident Senator has Christopher Combs running uncontested.
  • And Senator-at-Large has Caleb Grover running uncontested.

The Spring 2023 SGA election runs online from 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 12 through Thursday, April 13 at 6 p.m. Make sure to vote to have your voice heard!