SGA begins planning for next semester

The Student Government Association (SGA) is already making plans for next semester.

Adam Penland, current president of SGA, will be retaining his position next year. He plans to focus on mental health on campus.

“That's something that we realize a lot of students on campus deal with, mental health issues, and I have myself,” Penland said.

The focus on mental health is in part due to problems with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), he said.

“There's a problem with CAPS,” he said. “It takes two or three weeks to even get an appointment with them, and we talked to some CAPS representatives and they said even if they had the… fully-staffed group of four people, that still wouldn't be enough,” Penland said.

CAPS acknowledged being understaffed in a previous Cluster article. Stephen Brown, associate dean for student services, said one of the counselors unexpectedly left the position, leaving a gap in CAPS’ services.

“In late August, a counselor who had worked at CAPS for over seven years announced his decision to focus full-time on his outside business,” Brown said. “As such, there may be some wait time to see a counselor during the busy parts of the semester.”

Penland also plans to continue his focus on campus dining.

“Even if we don't get new (restaurants), we can always get more options,” he said.

Micheala Jones, junior senator and next year’s vice president, said she will focus on campus parking.

“There is still some small issues that occur every day with parking, and … it's inconvenient,” Jones said.

She said she hopes there is an easy solution.

“Hopefully (we will) just continue to work with (Mercer Police) to make it easier for everyone to understand and collaborate with,” she said.

Freshman Senator Sheridan King also has plans for next year to improve printing on campus, develop masters programs for the College of Liberal Arts and implement direct deposits for students.

“I think our students spend enough money on tuition, and they deserve to be rewarded by providing the most up-to-date necessities possible,” King said in an email to The Cluster. “I feel incredibly confident about pursuing these difficult tasks because of our new administration.”