At a monthly meeting, student leaders voted in a new Student Government Association vice president of public relations, and the SGA president announced that in April his position will be open for nominations for the upcoming academic year.

The SGA requires all student organizations and clubs to send a representative to the Student Advisory Council meeting—a monthly meeting of student club leaders and their representatives—each month or risk losing funding.

Election: vice president of public relations

At this month’s Student Advisory Council meeting members voted for Jacob Smith as the new vice president of public relations. Smith was the only candidate seeking the position, formerly known as club secretary, which Caleb Schaefer vacated last month.

In a brief speech, Smith, a second-year business major and president of the Adventure Club, outlined his plans to help student organizations market themselves by teaching club officers to use flyers, social media and the Nest, an online club and event management tool.

“I want to help clubs grow,” Smith said in an interview with Campus Current after the meeting. “I see so many clubs that are so passionate about what they do but only have two members, or even zero members. I really want to be able to be a resource for them.”

Smith also said he wants to bolster the SGA’s social media following through publicity tables around campus.

At the Feb. 5 Student Advisory Council meeting, SGA officers announced a new form on the Nest that allows student organizations to request to publicize their events on SGA’s social media. The SGA posts requests for publicity from other student clubs to its Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Smith said student organizations using this feature will benefit if SGA gains a larger audience.

Two hundred thirty two people follow the SGA’s Twitter account, with an average of 3 likes for the four posts made since early December; 71 follow it’s Instagram account for an average of 13 likes in the same number of posts; and 228 follow the organization on Facebook, with the organization’s three posts since December averaging 2 likes. The SGA’s last post on any of the three sites was one the Campus Current requested through the Nest, posted Feb. 8.

The Campus Activities Board, an SGA committee that hosts campus events, also has social media accounts, but does not post student requests to them.

CAB has 413 followers on Twitter, 215 followers on Instagram and 407 followers on Facebook.

CAB has posted on Twitter 10 times since January with at most one like per post; on Instagram 17 times since January, averaging 14 likes; and on Facebook 17 times with most posts gaining one or two likes, but one gaining six. CAB last posted today on Instagram and on Thursday on Facebook and Twitter.

SGA president nominations

SGA President Johnathan O’Dea also announced that nominations for his position through the 2018-2019 academic year will open next month at the Student Advisory Council meeting.

O’Dea advised students to start thinking about whether they are interested in the position and encouraged anyone interested to contact him with questions.

Student club budget requests

Also at the meeting, SGA officers reminded student clubs to submit their 2018-2019 budget requests to the Nest by April 6.

Each organization must also schedule a hearing to present its request. The last day of hearings will be April 13.

Director of Student Engagement Chris Stork said the SGA will cancel a hearing for any club that does not submit its budget request to the Nest at least 24 hours before its scheduled hearing.

Any club that fails to submit and present a budget request by the deadlines will not receive any funding for the 2018-2019 academic year.