By: Josie Shaw
UM’s SGA ended its 2022-2023 election in the first week of April, and all of the positions were uncontested. While not yet inducted, senior Cody Hodge ran unopposed for President, making him President-elect.
ABOUT HODGE:
Hodge is a 21-year-old Environmental studies major and Political Science major, and this is his fourth year participating in UM’s SGA.
In his first two years, he was elected as a senator, and he was appointed by the SGA Senate to the Student Trustee position in his junior year. As Student Trustee, Hodge served as a liaison between students and UM’s Board of Trustees.
HODGE’S CAMPAIGN:
Hodge commented, “With the president position vacant, I recognized that as a prior member of the SGA, serving on both Senate and Executive Cabinet, I had a responsibility to use the knowledge and skills I garnered over my time with the SGA and use them to serve the student body.”
With his presidential campaign focused on expanding campus wide student involvement, Hodge hopes to see a change in SGA participation. “The SGA is the student’s voice on campus, and far too few students interact with the association or understand how it affects them.” said Hodge.
Hodge added “Since I am running unopposed, I have focused my time and resources on recruiting new members to the SGA and quickly filling executive cabinet positions.”
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT:
At the SGA candidates debate, when Hodge was asked why he believed he was running unopposed, he pointed towards a general lack of campus involvement as to the issue.
“I believe the pandemic understandably obscured SGA from the focus of two years’ worth of incoming students. Many of these students are hardly aware of SGA and its functions,” said Hodge.
With hope of change, he said, “With the university now implementing a mask optional policy, I hope the members of SGA’s Executive Cabinet and Senate can recruit more and new members to the SGA’s many vacant positions.”
SGA Faculty Advisor Jenny Bell shared similar reasoning for student involvement problems. In the previous year due to COVID-19, SGA had to hold virtual meetings.
Bell said: “I think some students were surprised that virtual meeting options weren’t offered for SGA meetings. As a leadership team, our SGA cabinet felt like it was important for engagement of cabinet and senate to meet together in person whenever we were able to safely do so.”
Hodge believes the solution to student involvement is showing students how important their voices are.
“While president, I hope to see competition for Senate and Executive positions alike and more advocacy for those student voices that remain silent on campus.”, said Hodge.
SGA Senate’s weekly meetings are held in the Farmer Hall Meeting room at 5:00 p.m.
Read more about UM’s SGA here.
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