Riley Fitz elected as new SGA President

By Amrit Brown//

An environmental science major with minors in political science and chemistry lead the Student Government Association (SGA) in the fall

The new president, Riley Fitz, was elected last week. She ran unopposed for the presidency largely due to the lack of qualified candidates for the position.

Fitz is the current Academic Affairs chair of SGA, a position which has provided her with the student government experience necessary to fill the role of president next year. Fitz said that she wanted to become more involved in SGA in her senior year especially due to a lack of interested people and a smaller workload in her classes her senior year.

As president, Fitz said she wants to increase participation in SGA as well as create more channels of communication between SGA and the student body. Fitz said she would think about announcing general meetings over the morning announcements to generate more interest.

The lack of interest in SGA has diminished so much that Fitz believes making attendance mandatory for clubs that are seeking money from SGA would be beneficial. She said her friends in SGA in other colleges have had success with that policy.

Fitz also believes increasing awareness of the role of SGA is necessary because students generally believe SGA is less interesting than other clubs. People who would generally be interested in roles on SGA already participate in other clubs. “People who are willing to do stuff like that are often busy with other leadership roles,” Fitz said.

Fitz said that outside of increased attendance and communication, she is open to suggestions from the student body.

Fitz also is running for secretary of the senior class. “I feel like I have grown up with my current class,” Fitz said. She added that class council and SGA are generally separated but their roles have become intertwined generally because of how small the college is.

Fitz is president of the junior class and is responsible for the ring ceremony at Hood College as well as general upkeep for the class. Additionally, as the Academic Affairs chair, Fitz has attended the meetings on the new core curriculum options and provided her feedback.

Fitz is a member of the choir and a general chemistry tutor. She said she believes that her involvement on campus will help her increase interest in SGA as she transitions into the role of president.