The application to declare candidacy for the 43 positions in the executive and legislative branches of the Student Government Association is available through V link and is due by 5 p.m. Friday.
Last Tuesday, the SGA held information sessions on its upcoming elections, detailing open positions, eligibility requirements and deadlines.
David Marquez, assistant director of Student Rights and Responsibilities and adviser to the SGA, said the information sessions were held โto give students an opportunity to learn a little bit more about SGA.โ
โHow it looks like, what the eligibility requirements are and, most important, so students can ask any questions that they might have, so that they might consider running for a position in the upcoming SGA elections,โ Marquez said.
Within the executive branch, the positions of president, vice president (Brownsville), and vice president (Edinburg) are available. Undergraduate and graduate candidates must have and maintain a 3.0 grade-point average.
Additionally, undergraduate candidates must have completed at least two fall or spring semesters at UTRGV and have completed or transferred a total of 30 or more credit hours.
Graduate candidates must have completed at least one fall or spring semester or two consecutive summer sessions at UTRGV.
Vice presidents must be enrolled for at least six credit hours at the location they desire to represent at both the time of application or appointment and while holding office.
In the legislative branch, 40 slots for senators on both campuses are available: eight senators at large (four from each campus), four graduate senators (two from each campus) and four senators each for the College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the College of Education and P-16 Integration, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Fine Arts, the College of Health Affairs, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Sciences.
Senator candidates must have and maintain a 3.0 GPA if a graduate student and 2.5 if an undergraduate.
All candidates must meet the following requirements in order to hold an elected or appointed position:
Undergraduate students must be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours at the time of application and during their term of office unless within 11 credit hours of graduation during the last semester of their current term.
Graduate students must be enrolled in at least six credit hours at the time of application and during their term of office unless within three credit hours during the last semester of their current term.
All students must complete 75 percent of attempted coursework per semester.
Alex Pepping, a psychology junior and member of the SGA elections committee, said the purpose of the SGA is to โrepresent the whole student body โฆ and so there are many concerns that individual students may have but also many other concerns that they all share together, as a whole.โ
โSo, what is the SGAโs responsibility? To address those concerns to the appropriate departments of the university to help better address this problem and fix anything,โ Pepping said.
He also said new students can join the SGA as interns to get better acquainted with the organization.
Josรฉ Antonio Escobedo, an undeclared freshman, would like to start off as an intern before working his way up.
โIโm interested, I guess, in government service, maybe as a career later on, so I might as well start now, some experience,โ Escobedo said. โWell, besides getting the students involved in โฆ government processes, it also helps the student body get things done, change things.โ
Applicants will be notified of their eligibility on March 7. The official campaign period will start March 27 and conclude April 6.
Online voting will begin at 8 p.m. April 4 through myUTRGV and will close at 11:59 p.m. April 6. Election results will be announced April 7.
Students who missed the information session may send an email to sga@utrgv.edu or contact the Office of Student Involvement.
