Ask any student who their elected representatives are, and they might respond with the obvious. First would be the president of the United States, followed hopefully by their congressman and the governor. For New Jersey, the governor would be Mikie Sherrill.
Depending on where the student lives, they may also know the name of their mayor and/or council members. A particularly dedicated citizen would also know the names of their state legislature members, which is different from Congress. The state legislature crafts New Jersey-specific legislation.
Honing in even further, a very politically minded student may even know the candidates for any upcoming elections, and would hopefully know who they want to vote for.
Now, this is quite a bit to expect of your average student, what with all the classes and responsibilities we juggle, but, as members of a democratic society, it’s important to know who represents us.
Still, there is one elected representative body that students are eager to forget about. That would be student government.
The Student Government Association, or SGA, is an elected organization that not only serves as the voice of the student body here at Rowan, but also governs much of student life here.
The SGA fields student concerns each week at Senate, compiling any grievances and later addressing them at meetings with various organizations and administrations on campus. For example, SGA met with facilities to discover why the upper patio snow melt system did not work back in February, and helped ensure that this problem does not persist.
Any problems a student may have with life here on campus are liable to be addressed by the Student Government Association, assuming SGA is made aware. Otherwise, how can action be taken at all?
It’s not just a lack of awareness of the function of SGA that poses a problem to their usefulness on campus; it is a lack of awareness of who we actually elect to serve on SGA.
Students may know the name of Hope Campbell, our SGA president, or the name Molly Fitzpatrick, the SGA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who heads the Student Financial Control Board and runs all hearings regarding budget allocation, but beyond those students, does anyone know of any of the other positions at SGA, or who holds them?
The Student Government Association is actually home to 15 elected positions, which help run daily life here at Rowan. These students and their positions are easy to see on ProfLink as part of the SGA’s roster. Still, that doesn’t clarify what each position actually does.
Section 300 of the SGA By-Laws, also easily accessed on ProfLink, outlines the many roles of our student representatives and their responsibilities. Not only that, but it also discusses the pay of the executive board members.
These bylaws not only validate the hard work these students put in representing us, but also serve as a reminder to us, their constituents. We have a responsibility to pay attention to who is elected to these positions, the work that they do, and the work that they don’t.
Student government is, generally, the gateway to “real-world” politics. The students we elect today will often end up being the politicians we see advertised on lawns and on billboards. Yet, student government often has about as much visibility as a local school board, and because of that, about as much accountability.
The Whit Staff believes that it is important for our student leadership to be more visible to the student populace in order to remain accountable to them. We can look to present-day political leaders for inspiration on what this visibility looks like.
Currently, Rowan SGA’s social media presence is lackluster. This can be directly attributed to the empty position of AVP of PR and Special Events, and it can be expected to improve once this position is filled. Still, it can be useful to acknowledge the potential of SGA’s social media. While they made a post introducing students to the 25-26 team, they posted it this month, on the seventh. Surely, a post like that should have been made in Sept. of 2025. Furthermore, posts on the Instagram page may update students to events and opportunities, but do nothing to enlighten students to the actual work SGA is achieving outside of events.
More transparency in activity can help these positions feel less like long-winded titles and more like actual jobs. When SGA votes on a resolution, there should be a post discussing that resolution. When the Board of Trustees makes a decision regarding tuition, the student trustee needs to be on video, discussing the impacts of these decisions on students themselves.
When election time comes, there is a standing policy dictating how students can and cannot campaign. These policies are reasonable and can be found on the SGA Elections page hosted by Rowan University. There is just one thing missing, and that would be a platform for all candidates to be promoted equally. It can be argued that that is the exact purpose of SGA’s social media.
While it is not ideal for the SGA Instagram account to be purely advertising for students running in elections, it is incredibly important for a centralized locale to be used for all student candidates.
In January, SGA hosted a “Meet the Candidates” event. Subsequent to that, voting began in waves for the representatives for 26-27. While 1080 students voted in the main election, the future series had severely reduced interest and turnout. It’s also clear that this process is quite alienating to any students who are unavailable for Monday evening meetings or who do not frequent locations where people would post campaign materials.
That is the exact purpose of social media: to fill in gaps of accessibility.
Overall, the Whit Staff believes that students’ ignorance of their elected representatives is a two-pronged issue.
It is the students’ own responsibility to educate themselves and learn about who it is that helps run our daily life here at Rowan, but it is also the responsibility of SGA to be more visible to the student body. As present as they may feel with their offices centrally located and – literally – transparent, SGA operates largely in the shadows.
As we conclude the spring semester and approach a new year, it is the perfect time for students to learn who will be on the executive committee of SGA for the 26-27 academic year, and for SGA to better craft a strategy of visibility. Otherwise, students may remain in the dark about the hard work that governs the ins and outs of this complex campus.
For comments/questions about this story, DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email [email protected]
