Having served Seton Hall's students and faculty for over 25 years, the Student Government Association is in charge of most of the student-run clubs and organizations on campus, according to SGA Vice President Mario Costa.
"The SGA is the voice of the student," Costa said. "Leaders (are) elected to voice the suggestions and concerns of students through the proper channels in order to advocate and create change throughout the campus."
Arts and Sciences Senator and Senate Speaker Drew Holden said that SGA is also accountable for the annual budgets of the clubs and organizations on campus.
"Apart from that, every year we have numerous initiatives to improve the student experience at Seton Hall," Holden said.
Holden also said that SGA "tackled" issues like extending library hours and advancing printing technology along with others in the past academic year.
According to Costa, there are 19 current members in the association with a few vacancies in the Education and Nursing senates. Holden said that there are normally 35 members on SGA's executive board and that membership "fluctuates depending on the number of Ad Hoc members."
Costa has been a part of SGA since his first semester at Seton Hall as a freshman senator. He was later chosen to run as SGA President Joe Donato's vice president and will be holding the office for the second term this upcoming academic year.
"The SGA has made me a better individual overall," Costa said. "Though being on SGA is always a demanding job and requires a lot of hard work and dedication to Seton Hall's mission, the work pushes and challenges you: requiring time management skills, prioritization and high levels of social skills (to bring) together individuals from all walks of life."
Holden said that he was involved with the association since his first year at SHU, serving as a freshman senator like Costa.
"I liked the feeling of being able to help students and work with the administration so SGA felt like a natural fit," he said.
Holden also said that being involved with SGA has been a great opportunity for him.
"Being on Senate has opened a lot of doors for me and really helped get the most out of my time at Seton Hall," he said. "It's taught me how to interact with professors, chairs and deans as well as the ins-and-outs of numerous University policies and functions that I wouldn't have known otherwise."
Holden went on to say that being a part of SGA has let him "explore" the various majors and programs Seton Hall has to offer.
"I'm double majoring and double minoring and I wouldn't have been able to figure out my schedule or how to complete what I want to do without the help of a lot of administrators I had met through SGA," Holden said.
He is a political science and environmental studies double major and served as the academic affairs committee chairman before being appointed as the senate speaker.
Tiffany Do can be reached at tiffany.do@student.shu.edu
