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STUDENT BODY ASSOCIATION LOOKS TO FALL
STUDENT BODY ASSOCIATION LOOKS TO A NEW YEAR
BY LAUREN SINGLETON ’21
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The impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic have been felt broadly, and Millsaps College is no exception. Student Body Association (SBA) President and rising senior Nazm Rahat says that coronavirus has put a “dampening” on campus life and on the Millsaps “spirit,” a change felt by every member of the Millsaps community this past year. In past years
the Leggett Living Room bustled with students and laughter; it has not had the same energy since the pandemic began. As couches and tables were removed to follow social distancing guidelines, students were not able to congregate and relax in the social hub like in years past. Rahat, along with many others, awaits the return of the couches, alongside a reinvigorated campus life as CDC and college guidelines loosen.
As the president of the SBA, Rahat explained that, although the last virtual year has been challenging, it allowed SBA to reexamine its functionality and weed out any inefficiencies in processes and protocols. SBA’s Executive Director of Programming Nic Hayes feels that a revitalization of campus life is coming this year. With its newly reevaluated functions, SBA is ready for the year — and hopefully a more normal one. Hayes anticipates a consistent schedule of events for students. In order to get back to normal, SBA strongly encourages all Millsaps students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated. SBA Vice President Worth Wilsey says vaccinated students can expect special incentives and giveaways in an effort to increase immunity among students.
Rahat believes beloved Millsaps traditions, like Fourth Night and IgNite, will be back to normal this year, with the possibility of adding new campus traditions as well. She states that “senior year experience is also back in full force.”
As a rising senior, Rahat is looking forward to the return of the Millsaps spirit on campus. She anticipates the return of her personal favorite campus event, Diwali, an event put on by the South Asian Cultural Alliance (SACA). Hayes is most looking forward to the return of Homecoming events and Major Madness. He also hopes to improve turnout rates for events this year through better publicity. Wilsey anticipates the return of face-to-face SBA meetings. Dhruv Patel, SBA treasurer, hopes to see the return to normalcy through academic revitalization, looking forward to the simple things, like stopping by a professor’s office on a whim, that students took for granted before.
In cohorts with both students and administration, SBA leadership helps facilitate meaningful experiences for students. These positions represent and advocate for the entire student body and are unique because officers are students themselves.
According to Wilsey, SBA aims to emphasize the servant-nature of its role by letting students know that “we are their voice.” Hayes encourages students to reach out with ideas and concerns, and Rahat wants to help train new leaders in this philosophy while also instilling a spirit of continuity. Often, she concedes, goals get lost over the years as leaders come and go. Rahat wants to minimize this loss by maintaining a consistent “paper trail” of ideas, offering operational training to new leaders, and showing intentionality in the “grunt work” of leadership. Patel plans to remedy this issue by centralizing communications to make a seamless and efficient way to “organize and request allocations.”
Student leaders are elected to be the voice of all students, and SBA leadership roles are serving positions meant to bridge the gap between students and administrators. SBA Secretary Kamal Bhalla wants all students to be able to reach out to their student leaders. She hopes to achieve this goal “through maintaining the student life Instagram page” and making it a key resource for all. Follow SBA on Instagram
