Committee Member Applications
Applications to join SGA committees are now live on Engage until September 14th at 11:45PM. If you are interested in being involved in any part of SGA– from creating IT tools to student advocacy to logistical planning, or making your own unique impact on campus in any area– then apply! There is truly a committee for everyone. You can learn more about all of our committees at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/undergrad-exec/executive-committees/ and apply to join at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/committeeapplication
Apply to join the Undergraduate House of Representatives!
The Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) is a directly elected representative body made up of Georgia Tech students from every significantly populous portion of the student body including majors/colleges, classifications, international students, athletes, transfer students, & co-op students. It is a great opportunity to not only give back to the student body by allowing their voices to be heard, but also to grow as a leader and a professional as well. With the initiatives it implements and the campus issues it addresses, the UHR strives to make the student experience as comfortable and enriching as possible, and you can be a part of that! Apply at https://www.sga.gatech.edu/applyuhr
Wreck the Vote
SGA’s annual Wreck the Vote voter registration campaign will be held during the week of September 14th! This partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is part of SGA’s ongoing effort to engage Georgia Tech students in different political processes. This year, the campaign will be focusing on helping students request absentee ballots in the wake of COVID-19 and help establish voting plans for the day of the election. On September 17th at 6:00PM, SGA and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated will be hosting a virtual political debate between various political organizations on campus.
Campus Printing Updates
Your free print allocation will now be deposited as a lump sum at the beginning of each semester, as opposed to an allocated amount per week. Central-PS lockers are now located in Room 215 in the Clough building behind Starbucks due to the Student Center construction. You can access the free central printing (limit of 1,200 pages per semester) at https://central-ps.gatech.edu/fulfillment/. For all printing information visit https://faq.oit.gatech.edu/content/what-printing-options-are-available-campus.
Wreck the Vote
SGA’s annual Wreck the Vote voter registration campaign will be held during the week of September 14th! This partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated is part of SGA’s ongoing effort to engage Georgia Tech students in different political processes. This year, the campaign will be focusing on helping students request absentee ballots in the wake of COVID-19 and help establish voting plans for the day of the election. On September 17th at 6:00PM, SGA and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated will be hosting a virtual political debate between various political organizations on campus.
Mural on Campus
Mural on CampusFor the first time in Georgia Tech’s history, plans are in place to have a mural painted on campus! As part of this process, SGA is gathering student opinions on what the mural should include. To have your ideas represented, please click here to fill out the short survey.
Campus Services – Issues We’re Experiencing & How You Can Help
SGA’s Campus Services’ team is working to actively aggregate and proactively address issues and concerns students are facing with any of GT’s Campus Services (dining, Buzzcard, exhibition hall, CRC, PTS, housing, and bookstore). If you have an issue or concern you’d like to share with us (the whole team is made up of students!), you can reach out to us anytime at campusservices@sga.gatech.edu.
CRC: The Campus Recreation Center (CRC) had nearly 600 no-shows, nearly 8 hours of lost reservation time, for the first week of the fall semester. Given the limited amount of slots available each day, if you cannot make it to your reserved time at the CRC, please be sure to cancel your reservation as soon as possible to allow spots for other students to utilize the facilities during the currently limited hours. If you’d like to sign up to use the CRC, you can do so by heading over to https://mycrc.gatech.edu/.
Dining: SGA has been working with GT Dining to address the long lines and social distancing-related concerns at primary dining halls. We’ve implemented an entirely student-run line manager program and will continue the program indefinitely this semester. If interested, please reach out to jacketsprotectjackets@sga.gatech.edu for more details. You can help out in two ways: 1) When in line at a dining location, remain 6 feet apart from everyone (friends and roommates included) 2) Download the new GT Dining app (search for “Georgia Tech Connect” in your app store) for mobile ordering and access to any changes in dining services. Additionally, we’ve strongly encouraged Dining to increase transparency regarding the cleaning procedures and processes that take place when a positive case is reported from a GT Dining employee.
Housing: If you are a Georgia Tech Housing resident, you should get tested weekly at any of the free, on-campus surveillance testing locations. It is not enough to get tested only once. As of Saturday, August 22nd, only 55% of on-campus residents had participated in testing. To catch an outbreak early, we need to regularly hit a 90% weekly testing rate from on-campus residents. All testing details and signup related materials can be found at https://mytest.gatech.edu/.
Check Your Course Syllabi!
SGA wants to remind all students that they should be checking their course syllabi for important points in order to be sure each course is complying with Institute policies. This includes that no tests or quizzes may be administered on the final instructional class day of the semester, which is the last day the class officially meets. Homework, assignments, labs, and projects may still be due, but all quizzes and tests should be graded and reported to students on or before the Final Instructional Class Day.
Classes may not meet during the Reading Period, and no assignments or graded activities are allowed during this time. Optional study sessions are allowed. If you know you have three final exams in one day, you may reschedule the exam for the middle period. You must notify the instructor no later than two weeks before the Thursday of the final exam period.
If you have any issues with courses, talk directly with your instructor. Oftentimes, that’s the best way to solve the problem you may be facing. If you need further help, reach out to Dr. Kyla Ross, the Assistant Vice Provost of Advocacy and Conflict Resolution at kyla.ross@gatech.edu.
If you ever want to share concerns, ideas, or questions with the SGA Academic Affairs Team, please email academics@sga.gatech.edu. SGA Academic Affairs is looking forward to continuing to hear student input about how we learn from COVID-19 and provide more course opportunities for students, as well as work on new initiatives this year, like revitalizing APPH course curriculum and expanding personal finance courses.
External Affairs/Advocacy Updates
Following the Department of Education’s reforms to Title IX sexual assault complaint procedure, Georgia Tech partnered with UGA to successfully lobby the University System of Georgia to adopt a survivor-focused Title IX procedure that prioritizes the mental health and well-being of survivors. Our new Georgia Tech policy can be accessed at https://policylibrary.gatech.edu/student-life/sexual-misconduct.
On July 14, the Faculty Executive Board passed a motion brought forth by representatives from SGA, requesting that teaching faculty provide academic consideration for student voters on November 3, Election Day. The motion requested that for Election Day, faculty consider moving lectures to an asynchronous format, avoid scheduling in-class quizzes, tests, or assessments, and make lecture recordings available for students unable to attend class that day. The Faculty Executive Board passed the motion, clarifying that classes will still be in session November 3. Faculty are strongly encouraged to consider making these modifications in order to give Georgia Tech students ample opportunity to participate in the election.
SGA will continue working with the Faculty Executive Board and Institute Standing Committees with the goal of creating a policy that sustains this efforts for election days to come.
McCamish Pavilion has officially been approved as a polling location for the general election! Early voting for Fulton County voters will occur at the location October 21, 22, and 23 in addition to the general election on November 3.
Closing
As always, please email sga@gatech.edu to let us know if you have questions or concerns! We’re always here to serve the Georgia Tech Student Body.