Raymond Baccari
News Editor
PROVIDENCE, R.I., — During the first Student Community Government (SCG) meeting of the semester, President David Blais reminded those in attendance that graduate students are able to enter the ranks of SCG. What is a graduate student? A graduate student can be defined as someone who is pursuing an advanced degree such as a Master’s or PhD after obtaining their Bachelor’s degree.
While these students are able to join SCG, they can only become a Parliament Representative and can’t run for Executive Board positions.
For any graduate student who is interested in joining, the process of becoming a Parliament Representative is the exact same as it is for undergraduate students. Blais welcomes this, explaining how it gives more representation as well as granting more aspects of the college experience for graduate students.
With graduate students allowed to join SCG, this creates a number of opportunities for them to have more representation on campus. For example, this would allow a graduate student like Jennifer Brennan, who graduated from RIC in 1995 with a degree in English/Secondary Ed and is currently going for her master’s in English, to join SCG.
Brennan thinks graduate students being able to join SCG is a great idea, saying, “I think that grad students should absolutely join student government because as older more mature students they have a broader knowledge of how things have changed throughout the years and a different perspective on what concerns students the most.”
The possibilities that can arise from more graduate students being in SCG are intriguing. It could be possible that more activities and aspects of the RIC experience for these students would happen. Like Brennan mentioned, the different perspectives being brought to the table is crucial for SCG and the interest of all RIC students.
With all things considered, this may inspire more students who could contribute the knowledge they have as RIC graduates. The doors in SCG are open, and the opportunity to add more to the Parliament is at these students’ convenience.
If any graduate student is interested in joining, further information on how to do so can be found by visiting https://www.ricscg.org/.