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Search Results: Structure of SGs (30)

Ask the Experts - 2008.02.19 - Question about starting a brand-new student government

Our school has never had a student government before. I'm trying to start one and don't even know where to begin. Can ASGA help?
Can our Student Government become a non-profit corporation to receive donations?

The background of this is that apparently the school does very little for its students outside of actual instruction. The SGA wants to be able to receive tax-deductible contributions in order to create a better quality of life for the student body, which will include hosting social events and even providing for a better graduation ceremony. The school apparently provides no money to the SGA nor provides for any of these kinds of amenities, other than hosting a bare-bones graduation ceremony. We can explore other avenues if you still think it's not a good idea to go the not-for-profit route.
Can our Student Government become a non-profit organization so that we can accept donations?

Is there any way for an SGA or has it ever been done before...that a Student Government gets Nonprofit organization status so they can accept donations that business and other people can write off for taxes?
Do any Student Governments have a 501(c)3 status?

Our college is a state university and is therefore tax exempt in our sate. I was encouraged by our school administrators to have our SGA apply for it's own tax exempt number but that would require making our SGA a non-profit (501c3) group. Do any other SGA's have a 501c3 status?
Do Presidents of SG's have Chiefs of Staff? What would their role be?

Do Presidents of SG's have Chiefs of Staff? What would their role be?
How do we restructure our SG?

My executive board has run into a snag with our plans for restructuring. Ithaca College Student Government Association has had a membership of over 60 for about 30 years now, and with our enrollment at just over 6,000, it seems quite excessive. With the help of ASGA, we've made the decision to limit our Congress to between 20 and 30 students and now we are just having trouble figuring out where to bring them from. We have decided we want to move towards a system that has students voting for representatives based on platform points (currently students vote blindly, forcing their reps to return to students each time they want to make a vote...it takes us about four weeks to pass a motion because it is discussed, sent to constituents, brought back and referred to committee, returned from committee, and sent back to constituents for approval), but now that is raising some questions. If we want to elect people based on platform, we don't want to restrict them too much by school and residence hall. However, we recognize that asking them to vote for 20 students among 50 candidates is irrational, especially when we want students to read bios and platforms of candidates. I'm having trouble searching the databases for how schools divide campuses for elections, and I am thinking part of the problem might be that what we are trying to do is a more unique way that elections are generally considered. Where do I go to find out how to elect a congress without confusing our student body? Please let me know if you need any more information to help answer this question; it is slightly confusing.
How many SGs have a "student senate" in place?

I am looking for other schools that have a "student senate" type system in place. What I mean by a student senate is basically that members of the student body other than those on SG (such as students in general or students that are part of student organizations) meet together in a senate type setting once a year or how ever many times a year and meet/discuss future programming/goals for the university. The point of such a senate is to increase the student's voice and opinion by showing administration that a large body of students can congregate and agree on an initiative. Currently, at PITT, we have a Student Government Board with a president and eight board members that represent all undergraduate students on campus. We are looking to increase the student representation with a "senate" program. In summary, my questions are: 1) Which other institutions have a senate type program? (BU and NYU are two I found thus far) 2) Do these institutions feel that the senate program has benefited the university or has it been a burden? 3) How do these institutions run the senate program? What is the protocol of how the seats are filled and the general process of each meeting? 4) Do institutions with this type of program find student apathy to be a severe issue? (Do they usually find it difficult to fill all seats in the senate?) 5) How is order kept during senate meetings? (Do they use Robert's Rules? Do students seem to follow RRs easily?) Sorry for the long question, I am very interested in increasing the student voice at our institution and believe that such a senate program would improve our SG. I look forward to hearing back! Thanks.
How should graduate students be represented in our Student Government?

I was hoping to get your advice on an issue we are facing. A current graduate student has approached SGA in hopes of joining as a Senator. However, our SGA and its Constitution are reserved for undergraduate students. We have explained that, but he is fairly determined to find a way to join.

We want to help the student represent graduate students, but we are unsure if joining our SGA with its current structure is the best option.
How should SG legislature structured?

How is your SG legislative body comprised? Is it made up of club members? Certain academic years? Individual schools or departments? I'm particularly interested in those institutions with between 5-10,000 students, and what works best for you.
Is there any national mandate to ensure all universities have student governments?

Is there any national mandate to ensure all universities have student governments?