By Joe Wlos

wlosjose@grinnell.edu

It may be cold outside, but Grinnell’s Student Government Association is ready to bring the heat with new ideas and new solutions to the school’s most pressing issues.

SGA President Colleen Osborne ’13 will present her State of the College address Friday evening in the Pub.  The talk will focus on the College’s continuing discussion of financial aid and admissions policies. She will update students on her conversations with trustees, faculty members and administrators.

Administrative Coordinator Ron Chiu ’13 hopes that the State of the College continues SGA’s “culture of openness,” which was a major initiative last semester.

“I think as an institution … we’ve really tried to get people to talk to us on a very casual level [and] make it comfortable for people to approach us and talk about issues,” Chiu said.

After the State of the College, SGA will begin looking at the training process for new cabinet members.  Elections for the President, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Vice President for Student Affairs will be held in the next few months, and this year’s team wants to make sure that their replacements are thoroughly prepared for the duties and responsibilities they signed up for.

An SGA Handbook is being prepared, as well. It will be visually appealing and it should help spread information about Grinnell’s student government to all who are interested.

The new cabinet’s jobs might be easier, though, because Chiu says that SGA will be “retooling” Joint Board, to make it smaller, shorter, and more effective. The budget application process is especially significant, as the SGA website undergoes updates. Although the website is being finalized by ITS, it should be up and running sometime in the near future.

Be sure to attend Friday’s State of the College Address at 8:00 p.m. in the Pub to hear about more exciting developments.