As part of your civic duty as a UMD student, it is important that you learn the ins and outs of your student government. The Hare, in its continued mission to provide the most up-to-date and factual information possible, has you covered.

Like every sound form of governance, the SGA uses a two-party system, where candidates run on a party ticket. Members of the SGA are then divided into a legislative, executive and judicial branch. 

The Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch contains five justices appointed by the President. The hearing process is quite simple. A petition can be started by 100 undergraduates, two club presidents, ⅔ of representatives, the President plus the VP, Executive VP, and the VP of Financial Affairs or the President plus ½ of the Cabinet.

The judicial branch hears many important cases, such as the landmark People v. Aspire Maryland (2023). This crucial case determined that a campaign table outside of Looney’s was improperly documented as a campaign-purchased table when it was actually a university-owned table, an egregious violation of the sacred campaign finance bylaws.

If you don’t have 100 undergraduates to hear a case, don’t worry! In the case of People v. Aspire Maryland, it’s perfectly acceptable to forge signatures on these petitions, or even throw out all the justices and appoint five new ones, until you get the result you want.

The Executive Branch

The Executive Branch has the president, VP, Financial VP, as well as many members of the Cabinet. They have many responsibilities, such as talking with even more important people. The Executive Branch is excellent at advice, and their entire cabinet regularly engages in dialogue.

The Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch contains representatives from all around UMD. Around half of these represent the different residential communities, such as Denton, Ellicott and “Off Campus – Outlying”, a district that encompasses the entire world except for College Park. There are also representatives from each college. Many of these seats are vacant, because apparently those in the School of Business have better things to do than make a lasting impact on our campus.

There are many standing committees on the Legislative Branch, with the Committee on Financial Affairs being the most critical. This is a group of legislators that “work together to interpret the University’s Policy on the Disbursement of the Student Activities Fee”. Evidently, they have not finished interpreting the policy, as the committee is still here. 

We can only assume that the committee is making sound decisions with the $42.50 Student Activities Fee we give them every semester by handing out money fairly to clubs and not cutting anyone’s budget. 

Due to the fact that they control our funding, the members of the Finance Committee are all highly capable and intelligent individuals. We would love to get a drink with them sometime, but we’ll pay, since we don’t want them to improperly use their campaign money on food expenses.

Conclusion

The Student Government Association is a voice for all Terps, a beacon of democracy and hope in uncertain times. Without the SGA, we would have no true leadership, except for the University Senate, the Senate of your college, the Board of Regents and the Office of the President. We hope this explanation helps!

Image Credits: Kenlynn Ingham