At their inaugural town hall event, the Grinnell Student Government Association (SGA) said that improving communication between SGA and the student body, along with access to information, is something they plan to work on this year.
Vice President of Student Affairs Jasiah Rojas `26 said that, based on issues raised by event attendees, SGA hopes to focus on community-building and outreach to students about resources.
“We’re so grateful that you came here and voiced your concerns to us,” Rojas said at the Sept. 23 town hall event. “A genuine understanding of the general consensus of what we’re hearing is a lack of information across the board.”
Molly Kuhn `29 attended the event to learn more about SGA’s role on campus.
“I actually really enjoyed it,” Kuhn said. “I thought it was nice to meet people from the Student Government Association, get a feel for what it’s like. We mainly talked about, as first years, what we may have expected and what we didn’t really get.”
Assistant Treasurer Sanaa Shah `28 said that getting involved on campus as a first year is crucial to a successful transition to Grinnell, but can be difficult.
“If you actively don’t want to participate in those organizations… you would feel a little bit more isolated,” Shah said. “When I broke my foot and I was out of campus for three weeks, I felt extremely isolated.”
To help with increasing student involvement on campus, Rojas said that SGA can improve outreach to students about campus-wide events.
“The student activity fee funds events for all students,” Rojas said. “If we can get the word out for all students, including first-year students, then that’s a big deal. That’s how we promote activities in which students can connect with one another.”
Communications Coordinator Brisha Jain `28 said that some students have expressed issues with a lack of awareness about campus events. For Jain, creating a shared calendar of events could be a possible solution.
“Something that we’re hoping to work on is how to get the word more out there,” Jain said. “There’s a lot happening, … every day, but there’s only so much stuff that goes in that calendar of yours. … Having one system that’s the hub of everything going on might be really useful to people.”
SGA President Keanu Yamanaka `26 said that he hopes to communicate student concerns to the college administration.
“Students sometimes don’t feel welcome on campus because they have a certain social issue that’s really affecting them,” Yamanaka said. “One of the things SGA does is … advocating student needs to the administration and being a liaison, a bridge, in between them.”
Class Senator James Applegate `28 said that the First Year Experience (FYE) course could be a possible area in which SGA communicates student concerns to the college administration.
“We can somehow get into the FYE conversation and be that representative,” Applegate said. “Right now it’s obscure, opaque, or at least it appears to be so.”
Class Senator Kalanna Phillips `27 said that another hope for SGA is to help students maintain affinity spaces on campus.
“A lot of people don’t know how to manage those spaces, so I think it would be so helpful for SGA specifically to provide a bit of guidance … just being a space students come to,” Phillips said.
Rojas said that it is important to recognize SGA’s ability to implement solutions to problems.
“The institution does move slow,” Rojas said. “Sometimes it’s about discerning whether or not the solution will come from Grinnell or will come from us, the students, because we can move faster than the institution can.”
For Yamanaka, a goal for the town hall was to help SGA identify its priorities. Yamanaka plans to host more town hall events this year, with a focus on connecting with student voices.
“I think it engages student voices a lot,” Yamanaka said. “It’s an ability for students just to advocate about the issues that they face on a day-to-day basis and make people feel more welcome on campus.”
