Ball State's Student Government Association (SGA) had its first meeting of the spring 2022 semester Jan. 19.
Four new senator applicants were voted on in the meeting. The applicants were Ozzie Kazarian, Trent McKenzie, Clarissa Carrigan and Shelby Alexander.
Kazarian, a junior at Ball State studying economics and sociology, applied to join the Off-Campus Caucus. In the fall 2021 semester, Kazarian was a part of the Organizational Caucus.
Kazarian wanted to use their position to bring more attention to road maintenance, promote local neighborhood associations, present more off-campus resource opportunities, coordinate volunteer work, and create opportunities for students to learn Muncie’s history.
“I think it would be really valuable to connect neighborhoods and students to preexisting organizations,” said Kazarian. “I want to try and develop neighborhood associations for primarily student populations.”
Kazarian was voted in 24-1.
McKenzie is a part of the fall 2022 class majoring in communications studies and political science.
Previously, he wrote legislation to provide finance representatives to committees and move forward with election reform through a ticket system.
McKenzie applied for the Collegiate Caucus as the College of Communication, Information and Media representative. He was voted in 17-6 with two abstentions.
Carrigan is a sophomore majoring in urban planning and has previously advocated for mental health suicide awareness.
She plans to use the experience to create more opportunities and events to promote awareness for mental health through organized events and community engagement. She also wants to make off-campus living situations safer through additional services such as panic buttons.
Carrigan was voted in 26-0 with one abstention.
Alexander, a sophomore majoring in urban planning and development and a current member of College of Architecture and Planning (CAP), wants to improve relationships for CAP students like herself across colleges and work on projects that will positively impact students' college experience.
Alexander applied for the Collegiate Caucus as the CAP representative. She was voted in 24-3.
President Tina Nguyen gave an update on the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) student scheduling priority resolution. The resolution was sent to the University Senate, and it is now in the Office of Registrar.
The resolution passed through SGA in the 2021 fall semester, Nov. 10.
The resolution was made to help ROTC students avoid scheduling issues.
Ball State SGA Election Commissioner, Kate Swope, announced the dates for the first vice presidential and presidential debates.
The first vice presidential debate will be on Feb. 10 at 7-8 p.m. in room 120 of the Teachers College. The first presidential debate will be Feb. 15, also at 7-8 p.m. in Pruis Hall.
In preparation for the upcoming debates and elections, Swope said Ball State SGA is currently preparing to reach out to students.
“Our goal is to [send out] a newsletter with regular election updates so [students] can scan a QR code, and sign up for emails from [SGA]," Swope said. "We are working to get in contact with different organizations on campus so we can actually run a raffle."
Contact Hannah Amos with comments at hannah.amos@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Hannah_Amos_394. Contact Richard Kann with comments at richard.kann@bsu.edu.
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