Student Government fall 2015: a brief overview

By Kyle Bigelow

[email protected]

From the top floor of Blazer Hall, Austin Mullen, president of the Student Government Association, is planning a host of new initiatives for the upcoming semester.

The SGA’s mission is to represent the entire student body, from undergrads to professional students. As the fall semester approaches, Student Government is already well into the planning for these programs, which includes a student-led diversity task force and an online outlet for student questions or problems.

“The summer is kind of the backbone of the work for the school year,” Mullen said. “Last summer, (2014-15 student body president) Jake Ingram did a lot with the safety app, LiveSafe. (They) did all the work in the summer, then into the fall started working on the contracts — then the spring is when LiveSafe was brought to campus.”

Related: SGA welcomes new president

LiveSafe is a smartphone app, free for students, with emergency services features that can put students on the phone with campus or local police with the touch of a button and allow a friend to follow you home virtually, among other things.

Similarly, across-the-board diversity within the student body is a cornerstone from Mullen’s platform.

“(UK) is the flagship land grant institution of Kentucky, and it’s our duty to serve every incoming student,” Mullen said. “There’s a lot of diversity in the commonwealth, and as the number of out-of-state students continues to rise, our diversity does as well.”

The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force is an initiative to allow students to voice concerns or give praises to the state of diversity on campus.

“The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force is solely students — and any student is welcome — and the goal is to bring as many presidential leaders from diverse organizations to the table, where everyone can vocalize what’s gone wrong or even the successes that they’ve seen,” Mullen said. “There are students who do not feel as if they have the ability to speak with faculty and administration, so being a bridge and giving them insight as to who to talk to about various things can be — we feel — very beneficial to student success and the campus community as whole.”

Providing outlets, information and services is to be the focus of Mullen and the SGA. Another fall 2015 initiative is an extension of the organization’s website, a feature currently dubbed “UKSGA Answers,” to handle all manner of student inquiries.

“There’s probably going to be 11 or 12 different sections: academics, athletics, safety, transportation, health and wellness … You ask a question or leave a comment, then you just submit it and that email is directed to the student government executive officer who is responsible for that area,” Mullen said.