Since its founding in October, the Student Group Union has worked to begin building a foundation for greater cooperation between university student groups.
The SGU aims to work closely with the Georgetown University Student Association and the Center for Student Programs to advocate on behalf of student organizations. In its first few months, the SGU has focused primarily on defining its mission, recruiting groups to sign its constitution and establishing relationships with the clubs it represents.
“We weren’t able to get too much started because we wanted to make sure that we built the relations before we jumped headlong into emailing people we don’t have relations with,” the media representative on SGU’s executive committee and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Ye Domesday Book Emily Coccia (COL ’15) said.
Going forward, the SGU hopes to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations that emerged from the 2012 Student Life Report.
“We are really working with [GUSA] to take some ownership over the recommendations and have them implemented to better the lives of student groups on campus,” Chair of the executive committee Aman Shahi (COL ’13) said.
The group also intends to make HoyaLink, the online portal for student organizations created this year, more user friendly and push for a centralized room reservation system.
“It seems easy enough to change if we’re willing to work together,” Coccia said.
Members of the SGU executive committee are also working on instruction guides to teach student leaders how to navigate the Office of Campus Activity Facilities. Representatives for each category of student group have individual goals as well. Coccia’s include increasing the diversity and transparency of the Media Board.
The SGU held its first summit meeting Sunday to inform constituents about ongoing projects and plans for the future. It was the first of the SGU’s meetings, which are set to take place once every fall and spring semester.
“The whole purpose of the summit was to provide some context on where we came from, what we’ve done since we’ve been created and what we plan on doing going forward, while at the same time getting feedback on all three of those steps from our constituent groups,” Shahi said.
The summit began with a formal presentation by Shahi, followed by a town-hall-style feedback session and a brainstorming session about the ways in which diverse student groups can collaborate.
“The activities allowed student leaders to meet one another in a fun context, but also have some ideas for possible collaborative events in the future,” Shahi said.
