I don’t quite remember the statistics, but if you were to ask a random student on campus whether they knew what “SGA” was, they probably wouldn’t; and it isn’t surprising. UMass has about 30,000 students with about 23k being undergraduates. The Student Government Association (known more commonly as SGA) is the government that represents the undergraduate body. With a school so large as UMass and a small percentage of the population that actually vote, it is not surprising that many students go their four years without ever hearing or thinking about SGA. Imagine if the US government were elected by 5% of the population and somehow the majority of the population continued on with their lives without ever knowing or hearing about what their government is up to. It sounds like an episode out of Black Mirror!

I think like many people around the country, politics ended having an uptick in followers ever since Donald Trump won the election and took office. So right before I matriculated to UMass I had a small (but growing) interest in politics. However, it wasn’t until my junior year (Fall 2019) that I bit the bullet and decided to apply for the SGA on campus. I had been aware of the SGA since I landed on campus, but I did little to engage, and SGA did little to engage with me. My sophomore fall semester I had decided I would apply, but I ultimately didn’t go to my interview; and in retrospect, I regret it.

My time in SGA was not that long, but it was revealing of the kind of work that the SGA undertakes to improve the lives of students on campus. There is your usual bureaucracy and rival factions and salt and tea going around, but what can you expect? I was a part of the finance committee which deals with emergency aid requests from RSOs (Registered Student Organizations) on campus. I was also almost a part of the Ways and Means Committee which is in charge of writing, proposing and passing the 3.1 million budget that WE pay a fat fee for every year. However, my confirmation vote kept getting pushed back and I eventually withdrew my interest.

You might wonder what kind of students you’ll find in SGA. You might think that the majority are Political Science majors or Legal Studies majors or double majors or dual degrees. And yes, you’ll find a good mix of those guys, but there are also math majors and science majors and yes, Spanish majors. It turns out that many of the students in student government take Spanish classes, and so you will find students in SGA that you had no idea were in SGA, but they sit next to you in class, and you’d have no idea.

There can be no doubt that a representative government is the best government. So if politics is something you’re interested in, but maybe you don’t want to commit to Poli Sci or Legal Studies, consider getting involved in Student Government Association, developing your skills and making great friends along the way.