SGA holds last meeting of the semester

The final Student Government Association meeting of the year took place yesterday afternoon as
members passed a number of motions and reflected on the fall semester.

The organization passed motions to assist in funding the Nicholls Students for Life trip to Washington
D.C., to purchase signposts, to fund overtime pay for library employees and to fund attendance for the
American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting and exposition.

The Students for Life motion will allow the organization to allocate $800, or $80 per person, to Nicholls
Students for Life to cover lodging and travel expenses for students attending the Students for Life of
America conferences in Washington D.C.

The motion to purchase pedestrian crosswalk sign posts will allow for SGA to purchase three posts for
“pedestrian crossing” signs at a total of $354.70. Christopher Oubre said that the organization already
has the signs, so they are purchasing posts to go with them.

“Last year, we bought all these crossing signs, and they were double-sided. We have one-way streets, so
we’ve taken one of the signs out of two off, and we’re just buying posts for them,” said Oubre.

Though the motion was met with disagreement, it ultimately passed with 23 votes in a roll call vote.

Additionally, the library motion will allow for the organization to fund the overtime pay for library
employees that are working overtime during finals week. Senator Brady Levron said that the library will
be open for two additional hours during that time.

“During finals week, the library is open until twelve. What we’re going to do is pay for the…two hours, so
it’s going to be open until two o’clock on those days,” said Levron. “[There are] about 200 or so students
that actually stay until two o’clock.”

Finally, the ACS motion provides for the allocation of $348 for two students to register for the ACS
national meeting and exposition in New Orleans in March. Senator Hali Westerman said that registration
for the conference costs $174 for members.

Looking back on the semester, President Tommy Thibodeaux said that he was left with a feeling of
accomplishment.

“The very first time [as president], I was just kind of relieved that I got through it. Now I just feel
accomplished,” said Thibodeaux. “We’ve done so much through the few weeks that we’ve had.”

Thibodeaux said that he is excited about what is to come in the spring semester.

“Being able to look back at all the motions, having a full Senate, the presidential search, the Wi-Fi
updates…[I’m] just super proud and super excited for next semester.”

Vice President Austin Wendt said that one of SGA’s main goals this semester was to increase
representation on the Senate.

“One of the main things when we came back from the summer was making sure we had increased
diversity in the Senate and that we made sure that students were well-represented in the Senate,” said
Wendt.

Wendt highlighted the fact that, for the first time in a while, the organization had a full Senate this
semester.

“For the first time in a very long period of time, we have a full and complete Senate and we have a full
and complete Supreme Court and we’re only missing two people in our election commission. That not
only speaks to the people in here, but it also speaks to the dynamic of people that are in here…” said
Wendt.

He said that SGA already has projects in the works for the spring semester.

“We have some projects that are going to be coming to light hopefully in the next semester. One of
them is improvements to the student union, making it a little more updated. [Another is] designating
the parking lots on campus by signage,” said Wendt. “I think that next semester is going to be really
great with the amount of improvements that we’re going to have for the students.