Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928 technewsiit.com Opi ion 2 Campus 3-! AErE 8 The Slipstick 9 Sports 10-11 Election Week showcases SGA's accomplishments By Karl Rybaltowski EDITOR-IN-CHIEF As part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness of student government on campus and its important role in advocating for the university’s student body, llT’s Student Government Association (SGA) made all of last week SGA Week What could have been a singleeday event surrounding the SGA Senate elections turned into a more comprehensive affair that not only got the message out and brought heightened visibility to SGA but also broke records in the process The university’s student government has been a vocal advocate for students, and in recent years their achievements on behalf of the student body (and, at times, through work with other groups) include the return of evening hours at Center Court, ongoing work on a Foreign Language Program, the reopening of The B og, the publication of teacher evaluations, the extension of Galvin Library’s hours of operation for students, and the introduction of the Student Discount Card In an effort to increase awareness of these and other projects that SGA has undertaken on the behalf of students and to encourage further feedback from the student body, the executive board of SGA unveiled SGA Week, giving students several opportunities to interact directly with executive board members, offer ideas, and, of course, vote for the newest round of SGA senatorsl SGA Week began with a “Lunch with SGA" event held on Monday, September 26‘ Students had the opportunity to communicate with each other, current SGA members, and those who were a part of student government in the pastiall over a lunch of free pizza Students discussed their ideas for change at UT, and the “I want this to bent" cards were distributed to students as part of SGA’s ongoing campaign of the same name All one needs to do is finish that sentence, written on each card, and take a photograph of the card with the object in question Candidates running for SGA Senate were also present to meet potential voters and share their ideas for improving the university The second day of SGA Week may have been the biggest: the Senate elections took place, with polls open until early evening 26 candidates representing a variety of colleges vied for Senate seatsl When the polls closed, 630 students had votedibreaking the previous year’s participation by almost 200 votes “I voted" pins were distributed to those who voted (as well as more of the “I want to seem" cards) to show their involvement and publicize the election furtherl Even Baby Hawk, llT’s “miniemascot,” showed up to vote and entice other students to do so Later that evening at the Senate meeting, the winners of the election were announced and sworn in Avariety ofviews have been expressed by the newly, elected senators, and current SGA members are excited “The new senators will bring new life to SGA with their myriad new ideas for how to change the school for the better and the energy they bring to Senate," said Kelly Lohr, SGA’s Vice President of Communications Wednesday saw another “Lunch with SG " event, where newlyeelected senators met with their constituents, discussed their ideas and revealed some plans for how they would work with their fellow senators to bring those ideas to fruition Thursday saw another pair of big events During the day, SGA held its first Student Discount Fair Vendors and restaurants participating in the Student Discount Card program came to campus and shared samples, letting the student body see just how many local businesses (such as Connie’s Pizza and Mangia Fresca) have signed on to the program and the new options students have to explore in areas like Bridgeport In the evening, SGA held a Trivia Night inthe BOG, where teams competed over knowledge, not just of HT trivia but a variety of general knowledge questions thrown into the mix As Lohr said, “The competition was fierce, but in the end Hashem Amara, Eric Barbour, Kamil Bober, and Matthew Otten reigned supreme and were rewarded for their superior trivia knowledge with two gift cards of their choice?’ Though not an official part of SGA week, Sunday was the day of the SGA Senate Retreat, where new senators spent the day at the Downtown Campus and were introduced in more detail to some of their responsibilities, SGA committees, and a number of ideas that SGA is currently working on In all, SGA members agreed that the weekwas a big success, publicizing not only the sheer amount of success the Student Discount Program has had and the openness of student government to feedback and participation, but SGA’s advocacy for students in general Photos by Anna Lockhart & SGA