Shows
The ASGA MinuteHas Student Government lost its relevance? (Episode 2: Season 2)Do we need to "reinvent" student government? Is the current structure working? Student Governments nationwide are struggling with relevance to their constituents. This is particularly true after the past three years of lock-downs and remote classes and meetings. A scholar, Dr. Daniel J. D'Amico, wrote a blistering critique about deficiencies of student government back in 2004, when he was at Loyola University/New Orleans. I ran across his article, "Deliver us from Student Government" (https://mises.org/library/deliver-us-student-government), and then interviewed him for this episode. He's now a professor at Brown University.Here a...
2022-04-2830 minThe ASGA MinuteAre You Telling Students About Your Student Government's Accomplishments? (Episode 1: Season 2)At Skyline College, a community college in California, the Associate Students in 19-20 created an impressive wrap--up of what they accomplished during the year.https://express.adobe.com/page/BBOenSkUc8B7Z/This is a rare feature at student government web sites. Most SG web sites don't even begin to include accomplishments. Many don't even have a list of officers or how to contact them!--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/a...
2022-04-0803 minThe ASGA MinuteShould your SG have a mid-year "confidence/no confidence" vote? (Episode 19: Season 1)At the University of South Florida in Tampa, one of the largest and most complex student governments in the nation, the spring 2021 elections were a disaster. The candidate team that won by far the most votes in the general election was disqualified, so the second-place finisher became the "selection of last resort." The SG held mid-year elections for senators at three USF campuses, but also held a "confidence" vote for the president and vice president. Fortunately for the two, SG President Julia Cunningham and Vice President Jillian Wilson, the "Yes" votes (to keep the duo) outweighed the "...
2021-11-3003 minThe ASGA MinutePerhaps the youngest SGA President in the nation? (Episode 18: Season 1)Charleston Lee is the new SGA president at Paine College in Georgia. She is a 16-year-old senior. She started college at the age of 12 through Paine's dual-enrollment program.Ms. Lee may be the youngest SGA president in the nation, and is definitely the youngest in the 140-year-history of Paine College.ASGA's Butch Oxendine interview Charleston Lee about her experience at Paine and plans for the future.https://news.yahoo.com/paine-college-inaugurates-16-old-090043830.htmlhttps://dothaneagle.com/news/ap/state/paine-college-inaugurates-16-year-old-as-sga-president/article_1d939e18-80be-52ce-a442-09f5a3436614.html...
2021-11-1006 minThe ASGA MinuteShould you lower the GPA requirement for SG members? (Episode 17: Season 1)Should you lower the GPA requirement to allow for more students to run for office and serve in your SG?This is the focus of today's episode.It was inspired by Florida A&M University's discussion in The Famuan about lowering GPAs for potential officers/members:http://www.thefamuanonline.com/2011/02/14/low-gpas-could-oust-famu-student-representatives/http://www.thefamuanonline.com/2011/11/15/sga-wants-to-lower-gpa-requirement/--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/support
2021-11-1003 minThe ASGA MinuteShould SG leaders be compensated? (Episode 16: Season 1)Compensation for student leaders is pretty common. ASGA tracks this information for more than 1,000 institutions in our SG Salary Survey found at www.asgahome.org for members.The University of Maryland/Baltimore County makes sure that student leaders "earn" their stipends through a "stipend review committee." This committee review the performance of various members and determines if they have met the minimum criteria for performing the required duties.Also, UMBC reviewed several peer institutions to understand compensation offered to student leaders in their region of the country.https://sga.umbc.edu/officer-stipends/...
2021-09-2404 minThe ASGA MinuteWhat's the most common name of "Student Governments" nationwide? (Episode 13: Season 1)What is the most common name of college and university student governments across the nation?Student Government Association-- by far-- is the most common name with 2,269 schools that use SGA.Student Senate is second with 440 schools, while Student Government (or SG) is next with 419.ASGA stores data on every student government in the nation in our SG Database that is searchable by our members. Our team pulled data today (8/31/21) to see the most common names and that data is now available.If you're in the midst of considering a name change...
2021-09-0703 minThe ASGA MinuteCan you run for president if you've never been in SGA before? (Episode 15: Season 1)SGs struggle with voter turnout around the country. Average turnout is about 4 percent (15-20 at private institutions, 10-15% at public, and well under 2% for community colleges). Part of the reason for this poor turnout can be blamed on uncontested races in many elections-- in other words, only one person is running for president. Sounds like a dictatorship!Any student should be able to run for office, regardless of previous SG experience. With proper and intentional transition training, students who haven't served before can become competent public servants quickly.One student, Asha Marie, at Furman University...
2021-09-0713 minThe ASGA MinuteHow can your SG help students avoid date rape drugs when they're out on the town? (Episode 14: Season 1)At Wofford College in South Carolina, the Campus Union (the student government) sponsored a bill to bring drink coasters to campus. These coasters detect if a drink has a "date rape drug" in it.The company that makes the coasters, Drink Safe Technologies, is based in Tallahassee, Florida. See www.drinksafe.com. Basically, you put a drop of the liquid from your glass on the coaster and it will indicate if a date rape drug is present. Here's an article about the coasters:https://woffordogb.com/2021/02/17/the-proposal-to-keep-our-students-safe/--- This episode is...
2021-09-0303 minThe ASGA MinuteHas there ever be two presidents of a college or university? (Episode 12: Season 1)Yes. The College of Idaho has two presidents, co-presidents.I've been doing Student Government research for nearly 40 years and I have never seen this model at any college or university. Just a handful of student governments have a co-president, including the University of Boulder at Boulder. But I've never seen it at the administrative level before.Doug Brigham & Jim Everett, Co-PresidentsThe College of Idaho appointed two highly successful business and non-profit leaders to the office of the President to lead the state’s oldest private college into the future. Former President of Ti...
2021-08-3003 minThe ASGA MinuteHow can you benefit from the expertise of former SG leaders? (Episode 11: Season 1)ASGA encourages student governments to communicate with past leaders, to even create an alumni organization for student government. Former leaders often can offer great insight, as they served in these roles before! They can give advice about problems to avoid, group to partner with, and many other insights to help you save time and pain in making needless mistakes.Here are a couple of examples, found in the ASGA SG Database, searchable to all members:Murray State University in Kentucky, had a gathering of 24 past SGA presidents.University of Arizona has a regular...
2021-08-1304 minThe ASGA MinuteAre your SG job descriptions useful to train new members? (Episode 10: Season 1)Most Student Governments don't train their members very well. You can start by offering detailed job descriptions for each position and also provide FAQs about your government for anyone interested in possibly serving.The University of Wisconsin/Stevens Point has a nice resource about the role of SGA there and also a job description for student senators. Here are details below.https://www.uwsp.edu/sga/Pages/senators.aspxWhy should I become a Senator?Becoming a Senator is a great way to get involved with the Student Government...
2021-08-1204 minThe ASGA MinuteHow often does your college/university president attend your SG meetings? (Episode 9: Season 1)Does your SG invite the college/university president to your meetings? Does the president inaugurate new officers/members after your elections?ASGA encountered an institution in Washington, Whitman College, and their campus newspaper reported that it was the first time in 10 years that a president attended a student government meeting. This is not ideal! It was shocking for me to read this.Presidents should attend SG meetings at least once a year and should be the one who inaugurates new officers/members.Here's the link: https://whitmanwire.com/news/2015/12/10/murray-first-sitting-president-to-attend-aswc-meeting-in-over-a-decade/--- Send...
2021-07-2102 minThe ASGA MinuteShould your SG have business cards for officers and members? (Episode 8: Season 1)At Eastern Michigan University, the Student Government voted to not fund business cards for its members. That's a mistake.Butch talks about the universal nature and relevance of having business cards for any professional.It's a simple and low-cost way to help professionalize your officers and members.EMU Student Government votes against purchasing business cards for senatorshttp://www.easternecho.com/article/2016/10/emu-student-government-senate-meeting-oct-18--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://a...
2021-07-1502 minThe ASGA MinuteHow often should you amend your constitution? (Episode 7: Season 1)The Florida Gulf Coast University SG is required to review its constitution every five years, then have the changes ratified by the student body through a campus-wide vote.Too many student governments amend their constitutions every year. The idea is reviewing it every four or five years is a wise use of organization time. No more than 10 percent of your SG's time should be spent on internal infrastructure matters like your constitution, bylaws, or election codes.https://eaglenews.org/news/constitution-changes-what-students-may-not-know-theyre-voting-on/--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a p...
2021-07-1404 minThe ASGA MinuteIs your web site good enough to connect with your constituents (your students)? (Episode 6: Season 1)Check out ASGA's member resource, SG Web Site Tune-up, found in the SG Toolbox at www.asgahome.org.It will teach you how to enhance and improve your Student Government web site (and your social network presence) so that you are better able to connect and communicate with your constituents (your fellow students).--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/support
2021-07-1303 minThe ASGA MinuteHow much do you know about student activity fees? (Episode 5: Season 1)University of West GeorgiaStudent Activity Fee traininghttps://www.westga.edu/administration/vpsa/assets/docs/safba-training-20-21.pdf--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/asgaminute/support
2021-07-1304 minThe ASGA MinuteAre you any good at training your new officers and members? (Episode 4: Season 1)This is from Michigan Tech's transition section:Transitions between outgoing and incoming executive boards are crucial to maintain organizational consistency. In order to facilitate easy transition officers should start, maintain, and update a living set of documents. This can be created in the form of a binder or digitally in a google team drive. Here is a helpful list of what you should include.Before the newly-elected officers of your organization officially assume their responsibilities, it is recommended for the old and new officers to get together for a “transition meeting.” This meeting can be cond...
2021-06-3002 minThe ASGA MinuteShould you have three student government presidents? (Episode 3: Season 1)The vast majority of student governments nationwide have a single president, almost always elected by their peers. But the University of Colorado/Boulder has three "co-presidents." They're called "The Tri-Executives."UC Boulder is one of the largest and most complex universities in the nation, the CUSG manages a $35 million budget. The government here has had the 3-president model for many years and it seems to work for them in spreading out responsibility so no one student is overwhelmed or overburdened.It's not the "norm" nationwide, but it seems to work for this Colorado institution.
2021-06-2403 minThe ASGA MinuteWhat's the best camera for live-streaming your SG Meetings? (Episode 2: Season 1)Butch talks about the Mevo camera (www.mevo.com) that is made for live-streaming meetings, events, and concerts. The power of the camera is being able to edit with zooms, pans, different shots right on your mobile phone or tablet.Another useful tool, PIVO (sounds lime Mevo, but is completely unreleated) follows faces and rotates your camera during meetings or events. Useful.Being fully transparent, Butch invested personally in Mevo a few years ago. The company recently sold to a bigger company, Logitech.http://www.mevo.comhttps://getpivo.com/...
2021-06-2403 minThe ASGA MinuteWhat is the ASGA Minute Podcast? (Episode 1: Season 1)This is a quick welcome from the podcast host, Butch Oxendine. Butch is executive director of the American Student Government Association and has been research and writing about student governments for more than 37 years.You can learn about ASGA at www.asgahome.org.We produce 11 conferences at www.asgaconferences.orgWe also help with consulting/training: see www.sgconsultant.com.Butch can be reached at butch@asgaonline.com.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://a...
2021-06-1704 min