B. T. Peake, webmaster for the SGA, felt the old SGA website was out of date and impractical for the student body.

Shortly after his election, Peake immediately initiated a project to redesign the web system from the ground up with help from his friend Louis Davis and the Office of Internet Technology.

“I always heard how the website was always out of date and did not have the latest bills and minutes posted,” Peake said. “I redesigned the senate web page to where it is directly linked to the backend database, so that the page always has the latest information. As soon as a senator submits a bill, it’s automatically live on the website.”

OIT also provided SGA with a private server so the website would not receive interference from any other difficulties in the UT system. The private server also permits Peake to design the website free of any other system at UT.

An additional major feature of the new system, according to Peake, was the database’s ability to provide transparency to the student body in the creation of senator profiles. Each senator has a profile on the website that shows his or her attendance, submitted bills and, if a roll call vote is taken on a bill, how that senator voted.

“This new system will add a whole new level of accountability for senators, because students will be able to see all of their senator’s activity,” Peake said.

Moreover, anything uploaded to the database will remain there permanently, from bills to minutes. This will construct a long-lasting virtual archive for the future senators and students to access. The website also contains bills from the previous year, but Peake is hoping to upload all prior bills in the future.

The system has already been commended by the members of the student government, including SGA President Tommy Jervis, who likes the new transparency of the system.

“(It permits) everyone an opportunity to interact with SGA,” Jervis said.

Jervis said he hopes more students get involved with SGA through the website.

The new SGA website can be found at sga.utk.edu under Student Senate.