SGA welcomes new senators and discusses Green Committee’s partnership with UCapture

Mercer’s Student Government Association (SGA) met Jan. 28 and swore in four new senators, Juniors Sarai Mapp, Caylen Johnson and Peri Staples and Senior Nigel D’Souza.

The new Senators promised to “fulfill the duties of the office entrusted to me to the utmost of my ability, to serve purposefully and meaningfully, to speak frankly and candidly in representing students and in all my endeavors to reflect honor and merit upon this organization and Mercer University.”

The New Senators were elected as a result of a special election held Jan. 15-16 and will be serving for the rest of the 2018-2019 term.

At the meeting, Green Committee Chair and Sophomore Class President Jadon Murad, discussed their joint efforts with UCapture, an extension for the Google Chrome web browser that funds environmental programs when users who have downloaded the extension make monetary transactions online.

Partnering websites donate a portion of users’ spending to projects that offset carbon emissions, such as methane capture and reforestation efforts.

Murad invited Rebecca Romp, a representative for UCapture, to speak on the program.

“Every time you shop online (using the app), every time you do your taxes online, anything like that, it offsets pounds of carbon,” Romp said.

UCapture users have offset 2,411,836 kilograms of carbon using the extension, according to the company’s website.

This partnership is part of SGA’s overall green initiative implemented by Senator Murad and the Green Committee, as well as various other organizations on campus.

“This app is a really good way to get students involved, it’s a great way to get the administration involved,” Romp said.

Murad said that more than 200 people signed up for UCapture, making Mercer the number one school for involvement in the program.

“We want to keep this going and maybe it can turn into something where we compete with other schools like we did with voting,” Murad said.

The link to download the browser and start using UCapture is ucapture.com/mercer.

SGA meets every Monday night at 6:30 in CSC 2. All meetings are open to the public.