SA convenes for changeover
The Student Association gathered for leadership changeover March 10 following the results of the 2025 election. The SA welcomed new elected officials, approved the Spring 2025 Initiative Fund for new clubs and announced open applications for SA appointed positions, which include parliamentarian and director of elections.
Outgoing SA President Jae Kim summarized the SA’s achievements in the past year, including a record 30,000 meal swipes donated through the guest meal swipe program, expanding dining services to 9 p.m. and bringing back breakfast service in all serveries.
Kim also highlighted more recent developments such as increasing the minimum wage for undergraduate students to $10 an hour, creating a fund for community service initiatives beginning next year and obtaining a 10% discount on monthly items in the campus bookstore for undergraduates.
Kim also discussed new precedents set by this year’s SA, including passing its first referendum, and increasing the number of town halls and social media engagement.
“We boosted engagement with the student body by hosting five town halls, and we grew the SA Instagram by 900 followers, and we ran the first campus-wide political referendum in recent history,” Kim said.
Several initiatives are still in the works, including a proposition to have an undergraduate student take part in the Board of Trustees.
Kim said the new SA will also advocate for the new residential college to be named after a person of color and for a revision of the restrictions on protest and poster display.
“I feel like SA has power over everything and nothing, so we can advocate and speak on anything, but we don’t have executive power over anything that goes on in [Rice],” Kim said. “I really feel like we tried our best this year to leverage the resources that we have, both financial and nonfinancial.”
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