1. Administrators, Relations With
One of the best signs of a successful SG is one that has wonderful relations with the administration. The administration should want to work with Student Government and this can only come from a close relationship between the two. At UM, we are restrained by a very tight budget that leaves little room for the funding of major initiatives. With the help of the administration, we have been able to move forward with many of the programs that we excited about implementing.
2. Web & Electronic Resources
Our SG Website has improved significantly over the past year. Improvement on the SG site is a project divided into three main phases, with all of them culminating into an interactive website unlike any other student organization on campus. Phase 1 - Transferring all available and public written records to electronic form and estalishing a system of consistent updating Phase 2 - Expansion of website to include additional resources and links to students and creating additional systems of contacts to maintain an up-to-date website Phase 3 - Redesign of website look and navigation and addition of student resources section Much progress has been done with the SG website, with phases 1 and 2 completed last November. Phase 3 is already underway, with prototypes and test designs already being made in preparation. Phase 3 should be done by February 2005, finally finishing the year-long project of improvement. Beyond this project, further improvements will be made, including the possible addition of LegiSlate, software designed for student governments to increase transparency, internal efficiency, and student awareness. Several noticeable differences are apparent when comparing the current SG website with last year's. Decreased download time throughout the whole website Up-to-date minutes and rosters from all branches of SG Increased amount of information about SG projects, initiatives, and events Links to student usable pages off of the SG website Addition of senator profiles Updated miami.edu e-mail aliases for SG members Addition of online co-sponsorship application and online suggestion box Complete listing of all SG applications in PDF format Incorporation of news scroller for highlighted news
3. Making SG Fun
All of the members of SG are involved because they want to make the University a better place to be. Since we all share that drive, the bonds in Student Government have grown very strong and we are all close friends. At any time throughout the day, one can find several SG members in the office, working on projects or talking to students. SG is fun because of the relationships that we have that inevitably lead into fun outside of school. Many of the frienships stem from our wonderful "retreat" that is held every year for incoming members. This day-long program allows SG members to become closer with one another and learn a little more about eachother.
1. Media Relations
Over the past years, the relationship between the newspaper and SG has been rather tense. This year we have done our best to ease the tension and move forward towards working together with the student media to promote the SG programming. This year, the newspaper has been very supportive and very critical, and it has continued to keep us accountable, however the relations with all forms of student media need to be stronger in the years to come.
2. Budgeting/Funding Groups
Due to the fact that UM is a private institution and SG does not act as the allocation committee, we are restricted to a very tight budget. This has truly hurt us as an organization because on several occassions we have been unable to pursue a program that would benefit both SG and the student body. In order to compensate for this, we have had to find funding from other locations, such as the administration. It has been somewhat of a problem over the past year, but it has allowed us to grow more aggressive when we approach the administration for funds.
3. Advertising
Over the past semester, it has been very difficult to have successful advertising on campus due to all of the major events that have occured. One of the problems that we have faced is informing all of the students about the wonderful initiatives that have been started by Student Government. As the school year has become calmer, we have had an easier time reaching the students, but without successful publicity, SG will never be able to grow. We faced a serious problem with advertising for Napster this past semester. Despite the national recognition that we received for being one of the first universities to offer the service, we were unable to compete with the Presidential Debate, on campus, for publicity. We have had to continue publicity well on into this semester in order to make sure that the service is being fully utilized.