If you can’t view this poll click here.

Thanks for joining us on Wednesday for  an #SGAchat on Best Practices for Disciplining an SGA Official! This week we generated about 100 tweets about disciplining SG members.  If you missed the chat, you can find the transcript here.

This week’s top contributors are:

@DanMcDs
@MichaelSCashman
@arjayquizon
@Ian1225
@UNCP_SGA
@mhelfrich98
@collinz
@carolyngolz

Thanks for the excellent conversation! Hope to see you join us again next week for another great #SGAchat

First off, because it relates in so many ways to what I am about to go into, I would like to congratulate @mcclusk, a friend and Massachusetts Students Uniting alumna,  in winning her bid for USSA President. Which leads me into the part that is relevant to SGA’s themselves.

Chances are, you have some part of SGA that you absolutely love- drafting legislation, learning parliamentary procedure, impacting University policy, meeting with administrators, aiding your clubs and organizations, or any other number of things SGAs across the country do. If not, here is my challenge to you: find that passion. It is that passion that makes student government such an amazing experience- and what helps create the best work.

Next, I want you to take action. I want you to focus on that passion- hone it, and bring advance your SGA in that area. Being in student government, you’ve probably also met that person who tries to take on everything, or at least everything in a certain area. That’s someone who has found their passion, and acted on it, but has gone a bit overboard. There may not be such a thing as too much passion, but we all know the fatal disease among student leaders known as burnout. That is something that can be avoided simply by having others with that same passion working with that SGA official (plus a little delegation training never hurt anyone either).

If you follow those steps, you will rarely ever feel like what you’re doing is ever actually work. It may seem common sense, after all we all repeat the “work a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” mantra. But, in the reality of the situation, that often gets lost to the concerns of “Do we have the space booked? Has the money been transferred to X account? Are the polling stations ready?” and countless other questions that run through our heads as we serve fellow students. Take some time this summer to pause, and realize that passion. Hone your skills. Not only will it help your student government, but in turn your fellow students, and your own job prospects.

Now, why go off on this tangent? Well, USSA’s new President is one of those individuals who first helped me find my passion surrounding issues impacting public higher education hear in Massachusetts. Since then, I have let that passion guide me in student government, reminding myself that, ultimately, we as an Undergraduate Student Government need to address these issues, not just for our current students, but our successors. These policy changes are unlikely to impact us, but we need to make a better tomorrow for our successors so that they may continue to move education and student organizing forward in the future. The Massachusetts Students Uniting listserv may be quiet, but the passion hums on. Each of us continues to try and make things better for the next incoming class of freshmen. Our counterparts of Salem State have successfully passed a bill granting the college University status through the state senate, and onto the desk of Governor Patrick. Undocumented students from across Massachusetts, including current and former UMass Boston students, held a vigil outside the State House protesting SB1070-esque legislation. And across the UMass and state college system, students have been actively engaging with PHENOM to try and reverse funding trends in our state that never should have occurred the first time, let alone over 3 decades.

I’ve found my passion guiding me these past few weeks as I try to make positive changes for our USG at UMass Boston. Drafting further legislation requiring and fostering respect amongst senators, hammering out job descriptions so all officers can more easily be held accountable, drafting legislation to not only better our officer transition process- but to create one, alongside drafting a to do list for creating a training regimen for our senators.

Let your passion guide you and move you forward, that, ultimately, will move you and your SGA into the future. Afterall, if you aren’t passionate, why are you a part of an organization dedicate to serving one of the most passionate and future-oriented demographics in the world?

NOTE: Cross-posted from One Part Student…

It’s SGA election time, and that means conflict. People begin to give themselves a platform to move up in leadership, or simply tear someone down from leadership they don’t like. Student Government is full of conflict, but when it is not productive, as often happens during elections, it’s best to try and head it off. This is the first post in what will be a series during this election season.

The first major case I’ll deal with is one that I’ve often heard on campus, as well as at other Massachusetts schools. Come election time, suddenly all the talk is about corruption. Rumors start about who is corrupt and what their agenda might be. First of all, if you hear these rumors, and know them to be false, stand up and say so. If you don’t know, don’t spread them. If the rumors are true, charges will be brought and the truth will come out one way or the other.

Once you’re the target, however, things get trickier. You can and should outright deny it if it’s true, but you also have to realize that people may not believe you. If any specific charges are you are levied in the campus media, respond to the point and openly. Show you have nothing to hide. If it gets so far that charges are brought against you, stand up and speak on that motion’s behalf. The truth will come to light within these proceedings, assuming there are rules of evidence in place for charging your SGA officials. You speaking on behalf of bringing charges against yourself shows confidence, and the will to move past the accusations. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t defend yourself from the accusations as well, but people will only listen for so long and chances are they have already made up their mind based solely on what they’ve been told.

Assuming someone is successful in bringing formal charges, stay informed. Get the exact nature of the charges against you, who is accusing you, and begin gathering your evidence and correspondence with those involved. This is where saving all records and e-mails will help. When meeting with the person or persons making the accusations, always have witnesses present in order to ensure a fair third party can speak to the events. From there on out, it will be up to whatever body makes the decision in this case. If you have done nothing, you have nothing to fear. If you are in fact corrupt, well, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

My next Elections Conflict post will focus on how to resolve conflicts while campaigning, hopefully without resorting to your SGA’s ruling body on elections.

Hey everyone!

I am currently a second semester sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Boston. I joined our student government my freshman year during special elections, and quickly rose through the ranks. I currently serve as the presiding officer, or Speaker, of our Student Senate. I have also been involved in student organizing through Massachusetts Students Uniting, which is an effort to create a statewide student association in Massachusetts.

The focus of my posts will be governing documents, making your student government visible, and dealing with conflict. I have had experience with all three of these over the last two years, and so I hope to put forward what I’ve learned through these experiences with all of you. I hope that I can help improve your SGA in some way, large or small.