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A Guide to Emory’s Student Government

Another year, another Student Government Association (SGA) scandal. But as terms related to SGA fly around, it can be hard not to feel confused about what is really going on. No worries! Below you will find a guide on how our student government operates and what it really can do for you.


Student Government Association (SGA), is the most powerful organization in government, and serves as the “national government” of Emory. Its legislature is not directly elected; instead it is appointed from organizations called Divisional Councils.


Divisional Councils are comparable to “state governments” and are responsible for directly addressing their respective student bodies.


College Council is an example of a divisional council, and College Council exclusively serves the interests of the College of Arts and Sciences. Other divisional councils include the BBA Council to represent the Business School and the ESNA to represent the Nursing School.


SGA has three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch is composed of 16 legislators with a breakdown shown below. All divisional councils are guaranteed two seats in the legislature, and the eight remaining seats are divided based on the population of each divisional councils student body.




The legislative branch is responsible for distributing funding and passing bills and resolutions. SGA receives about 2.1 millions dollars in funding every year through the Student Activity Fee (SAF). SGA can pass a bill to raise or lower the SAF, which must then be passed in a referendum where all students are allowed to vote.


The legislature also votes on bills, which allows it to create committees or make adjustments to the laws of SGA such as the finance code or the elections code.


Finally, the legislature can pass resolutions — statements that voice the opinion of SGA. Resolutions are not binding and are entirely symbolic.


SGA’s executive branch consists of the President and Vice President, as well as a cabinet. The President and Vice President are elected every spring by the student body. The winners of the election then select the members of their cabinet.


The SGA executive branch also receives its own funding that it can distribute without permission from the legislature.




The final branch of SGA is the judicial branch, which is known as the Constitutional Council. The Council consists of seven justices, which hear challenges related to the SGA Constitution. The Constitutional Council is led by a Chief Justice.


Justices are nominated by the SGA President and are confirmed by the SGA legislature. The Constitutional Council typically hears one case a year.


That effectively sums up Student Government at Emory. A significant problem SGA faces is its massive, burgeoning bureaucracy that is too complicated, too inefficient, and too slow to make effective change. In addition, the complexity of the organization makes it difficult for students to understand and interact with their elected leaders.


Future student government leaders should consider ways to simplify and demisty student government in order to help the entire student become more engaged and interested.



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