SGA Seeking to Improve Transparency and Campus Activities Under New President

While SGA has always existed at Mississippi College, there has been somewhat of a

misunderstanding, mystery, and confusion from within the student body about what the role of

SGA is and what changes they have made on campus. For its new president in Jameson Cook, he

hopes to change this stigma and be transparent with the campus body about what changes they

will make and how it was a decision made with the students’ well-being in mind.

Cook has served in the SGA last year under former president Rachel Smith and he says

that last year “was the most efficient [year] that I’ve had in SGA. We’re coming over from a lot

of setbacks and challenges like COVID restrictions and budget issues, and now with an influx of

new students, but I know that me and my staff are ready for whatever comes.”

Serving as chief of staff under former president Rachel Smith, Cook says that Smith was

“very well” in preparing him for his role in SGA now. “She encouraged me in doing this [SGA]

since the end of sophomore year and has given me so many resources to reach fall back on. She

was a great presence to serve under for sure”.

For this year, the SGA have a clear pathway ahead for their goals as they now are finally

over the hurdle of COVID and having solved the challenge of returning Mississippi College’s

campus life to what it was before the pandemic. While independent events and other goals

cannot be spoken upon or announced just yet because the school year’s budget has not been

announced yet, Cook has already started to put his plans into action.
 “We have lots of ideas for fundraisers and ways that we can benefit the campus so far,”

Cook says. “We want to try and keep improving the athletics’ relationship on campus,

specifically with clubs and tribes, like we began to tackle last year with the MC Olympics. The

most recent thing we’ve been working on is bringing a pickleball court to MC. I’ve been

speaking to Laura Jackson about that, and it’s been in continuation since the end of this past

academic year until now.”

Along with the multitude of ideas, Cook seeks to bring awareness and transparency to the

question all students have always had in the back of their minds; “What does SGA do on

campus?”

“There has been many things that both myself and others wanted to improve internally

within SGA just to make things more efficient, which I’m excited to try. One of my main topics

in my inauguration speech was answering ‘What is SGA?’ because all of us could give a short

answer, but what I want for this coming year is for everyone on campus to eventually resonate

with SGA on a personal level and truly know what we stand for and do. So that’s the main focus

of my executive council this year”.

While the budget for SGA should answer both the executive council’s and students’

questions alike on what is in store from the MC Student Government Association on campus this

year, the relationship and transparency between the two are on the forefront of the mind of

Jameson Cook for this upcoming academic year. While the influx of new students will bring in

both obstacles and opportunities for the SGA executive council, they are eager and confident

about what the next year has in store,

Caption: SGA’s new president, Jameson Cook, stands alongside Dean of Students Jonathan

Ambrose at a banquet this past academic year.