Liberty’s Student Government Association Presents Legislation to University

Students on Liberty University’s campus can expect to see changes in the near future, courtesy of legislation written by Student Government Association (SGA) and recently signed into effect by university President Jerry Prevo.

Two of these changes include the addition of water bottle filling stations in Williams Stadium and fire pits added to the Circle dorms, according to SGA’s Instagram page. Another change that will come about soon according to Daniel Hostetter, SGA speaker of the House of Delegates, is the addition of fire pits and picnic tables on East Campus.

While the legislation is now becoming common knowledge to the student body, the gap between introducing a bill and seeing it go into effect can take longer than expected. 

“The legislative process typically takes a few months,” Hostetter said. “The timeline varies depending on scheduling of House and Senate meetings.”

John Sharp, SGA president of the Senate, described the legislative process as extensive. 

“Anyone who is currently a member of either the SGA House of Delegates or the SGA Senate can write their idea as a bill to go through the above legislative process,” Sharp said. “Unfortunately, students who are not a part of SGA can’t write proposals or bills, but they can most definitely talk to someone who is to write it as legislation on their behalf.”

Sharp said that the bill then must be modified and passed by a committee before moving on to the House or Senate depending on which location it originated from. Once approved by both the House and the Senate, the bill arrives at the desk of Student Body President Evan Kluth, whose signature moves it on to Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Mark Hine.

It is only with Hine’s approval that the bill will arrive at the desk of President Prevo, who has the power to sign legislation into effect, according to Sharp. Sharp said legislation that isn’t passed can be retried. 

“Legislation can restart the entire process again, but if it initially failed one of the steps of passage, they would need to listen to why it failed and attempt to retry their legislation after incorporating the feedback they received,” Sharp said. 

Senior John Chevere, a resident of the Circle, is excited to see these new changes go into effect. 

“The thought of potentially having fire pits by the Circle is a wonderful idea,” Chevere said. “The Circle is well known for having great community and this will add another avenue to help build more within the hall but with other halls on the Circle.”

Chevere values the legislation SGA passes and the process it uses to do so.

“SGA legislation is beneficial to Liberty students as it provides an avenue for the voices and thoughts of students to be addressed and done in a way that holds more weight compared to just a single student advocating,” Chevere said.

Junior Kayla Grant looks forward to seeing more water bottle fill stations on Campus. She also believes that it’s practical to have students that are part of the SGA advocate for the student body. 

“Having water bottle filler stations around campus is overall good because it’s cleaner and more efficient,” Grant said. “It is important to have individuals who will be impacted by decisions be part of the decision-making.”  

Members of the House of Delegates like Junior Macy Montgomery and Senior Anthony Pyanoe play roles in this decision-making process. 

“Having this student government is good for the University because it brings attention to what ideas [students have] for improvements around campus,” Pyanoe said. “If it was only the staff coming up with ideas, there would be a significant less amount of student interaction with what should be done on campus.”

Montgomery agreed. 

“In SGA, the student body is heard,” Montgomery said. “It is our job as students to leave Liberty better than when we began.”

Seiler is a news reporter. Follow her on Twitter.