The University of West Florida Student Government Association has reorganized the face of student representation.

On July 28, a bill was passed that will offer students an opportunity to voice their individual concerns on various issues in everyday student life. The bill was passed unanimously.

These committees are: athletics and recreation, graduate students, fraternities and sororities, multicultural organizations, nontraditional and commuter students, resident students and special interest groups.

"I'm not trying to individualize students and say you have to be part of one specific group," said SGA president Steven Russell. "I really encourage you to be part of several campus activities. For most of the people involved on campus, they are very diverse and are into different things.”

Each of the respective groups is comprised of one senator from the Academic Committee, the Finance Committee and the Student Relations Committee. The committee chairs appointed the senators at the Sept. 3 SGA meeting.

“What we’re trying to do is get the other organizations in by making these three people that represent them feel like we’re really here for you,” Russell said. “I think the people who got the groups are really excited and are ready to roll with it.”

The groups will take some of the load off the SGA and the upper University administration. It will also give more power and responsibility to the senators, he said.

Russell wrote the bill but the idea was not entirely his. Randy Jernigan, who put in a bid for the candidacy, first generated the idea.

“It was kind of a mixture of my ideas and his ideas that sparked me to write this legislation,” Russell said. “I think we came up with a solid law.”

If students have any questions or concerns that need to be addressed to any of the eight groups, go to the SGA office and request a meeting with those senators. The office is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The SGA is also working to update their Web site. Once it is complete, there will be a link for each group so students can e-mail their questions to the senators.

This year is a trial period for the bill.

“I think some groups are going to be busier than others,” Russell said. “That might make us rethink how the groups are organized.”

Some issues may garner more attention than others, and at the end of the trial period the SGA will reevaluate structure of the groups.

“Hopefully, this will carry over,” he said. “I don't know where this bill will take us yet. It's one of those where we'll throw it out into the water and see what happens.”

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