Press Clipping: Illinois State University - SGA approved to try to join national branch

SGA approved to try to join national branch

Apr 30, 2004
By Jordan Sovereign

A resolution was passed Wednesday night, allowing the Student Government Association to petition to join the American SGA.

The ASGA is the national branch of the SGA. By joining it, the ISU SGA will be able to access many more resources.

"We'll be able to use other schools' resources and see what they do to better students' lives on their campuses," Student Body President Josh Rinker said.

The move will allow the SGA to have access to all the research information available from the ASGA. A problem in the past has been difficulty in finding what other schools have done in certain situations, Rinker said.

The association also offers several conferences they could attend to learn more about national campaigns, Rinker said.

"This will be a good benefit, not only for the SGA, but for the whole student body," off-campus senator and Daily Vidette Publication Board member Candice Harvey said.

The program will also allow them to contact other student leaders across the country, Rinker said.

Now that the resolution was passed, the petition will go in. Rinker said he was not sure how long the process would take.

Annual dues for a college or university of 38,000 students or more is $2,697 for a one-year membership and $2,427 for a two-year membership, according to creator executive director of Oxendine Publishing Butch Oxendine.

Oxendine Publishing, the publishers of Student Leader magazine, launched the ASGA March 17.

"The vision we have for this is a professional association for university student governments, which has never existed," Oxendine said.

The association launched with 100 founding members representing 30 states and all types of colleges and universities, ranging from large-enrollment public universities to small religious private colleges, said Oxendine.

Oxendine said the association is an opportunity for university student governments to obtain benchmarking ideas.

"University student governments do not know what is being done in other governments across the nation," Oxendine said. "The American Student Government Association gives them knowledge and ideas that will help keep them from making mistakes."