During the fall semester, UT’s Student Government Association internalized their mission of serving the student body and oriented themselves in the direction of continued representation and fostering relationships across the university network. SGA made insights into the specific accomplishments of the fall semester available to students, staff and the broader public on Feb. 11 with the release of its Fall 2025 Semester Report.
“I love being a part of student government because I feel like we are at such a unique place where we can actually make an impact on campus and see it come to fruition,” Caroline Marcus, the administration’s chief of staff, said.
Torch initiative
Members of SGA’s executive board such as Student Body Vice President Ella Blair and Executive Advisor Mansi Bhimani identified the need for stronger, more supportive resources for transfer students eager to get involved on campus. While some SGA executives were in the airport, traveling to SEC Exchange, the idea of Torch was born. Once summer subsided, the Torch program hit the ground running.
Modeled after SGA’s First Year Council, Torch focuses on leadership development, community building and preparing transfer students to further their role as members within student government.
During its debut semester, the Torch program released its Torch Guide Book, a guide for transfer students by transfer students to accompany their transition to Rocky Top. The guide book, handed out during Vol 103 in January, contains information regarding scholarships, housing, financial aid and more. The Torch cohort has plans to release a guide book every semester moving forward.
“Our motto as a student government association is that ‘everyone is a member,’ so we were thinking of how we could better live out that motto,” Blair said. “That helped us identify that there was a need to create a better way for transfer students to easily get involved in student government.”
Streamlining mental health resources
Last semester, a new tool made its way to students’ Canvas pages. The student wellness module, located on the Canvas tool bar, serves as a readily available campus mental health resource. This project, spearheaded by Student Body President Chase Darwin, began to take shape during his campaign for student body president as he saw a need to prioritize student well-being. Meetings during the summer latched onto this idea and helped to get the ball rolling in the fall.
The module came to fruition relatively quickly, helped along by collaboration with Vice Chancellor for Health & Well-Being Dr. Jill Zambito and the Center for Health Education & Wellness. Other universities such as Clemson have even reached out and are looking to implement a similar module for their students.
“That was really a fun thing to see happen,” Darwin said. “It really showed that mental health and student wellness is not just a student life priority but a priority among all departments and all divisions on campus.”
Senate supplies legislation
The undergraduate student senate serves as SGA’s primary governing body. It consists of 60 elected undergraduate students.
“Student demand is the call to action for every senator,” Speaker of the Senate Campbell Butler said. “You (the senators) are here to represent your fellow peers and you have to be communicating with your peers and engaging in the friendships and relationships you have to understand the student experience.”
Going into the fall semester, Butler had a few things in mind for the senate — mainly, the building and fostering of relationships within the senate body. Strong foundational connections within this branch of SGA serve as a launch pad for effective legislation. Butler sought to make a few system changes internally that would make passing legislation easier and more efficient for involved parties.
In particular, she worked closely with senate executives to standardize the legislation work flow by creating an email template that clearly communicates legislation between senate and respective campus administrations.
Within the past semester, the undergraduate student senate passed one bill, three resolutions and one proclamation, as well as created and published a comprehensive guide for SGA’s 2026 election season. Notable legislation that left the senate chambers in the fall includes Resolution 25-1 and Bill 25-1.
Resolution 25-1, sponsored by Sen. Alli Conkle, advocated for the addition of accommodation-support instruction and resources to the campus wide syllabus which went into effect this semester. Additionally, Bill 25-1 works to promote the Safe at UT app by awarding students with T-Credits upon downloading.
As the senate goes through the second half of the spring semester, they hope to churn out more legislation and continue implementation efforts.
Looking ahead
Within the fall semester, SGA leaned into maintaining momentum coming out of last year’s record breaking election season which saw the highest voter turnout yet. Through various initiatives, legislation and events, SGA continues to bridge the gap between students and campus administration. During the spring semester, SGA will begin to turn its attention toward elections, as voting will take place on March 25.
“I am really excited to see how elections go this year,” Blair said. “I could not be more excited for the next administration. I feel like every year SGA improves upon itself, and whoever next year’s leaders will be, I am confident that they are going to do an amazing job.”
