ACU students,
“Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.” This famous quote from the movie Remember the Titans serves as such a powerful reminder for me as I now serve in a leadership position – it challenges me to constantly reflect and seek improvement. The purpose of this letter is to acknowledge Students’ Association shortcomings, share our plan to proactively change SA’s identity and role, and clearly outline the next steps we are taking to accomplish this ambitious goal.
First, as the executive president, I accept responsibility, and personally apologize to students for any and all poor experiences involving SA. Our mission is to be good stewards of our God-given gifts – to represent the diverse needs of the student body through both activity and advocacy and in doing so, hold ourselves, the student body, the faculty, staff and administration accountable to each other and God.
Therefore, during the month of November, congress and the executive cabinet will communicate with a multitude of other student government organizations around the country and evaluate the foundation of how SA operates and serves students. We will vote on bills and resolutions at the end of the month that will amend the student Constitution and Bylaws. One big change will be to potentially alter the title of SA from Students’ Association to Student Government Association. Since titles identify purpose, we believe the new title could more clearly establish our reason for existence and explicitly explain our role on campus.
Besides possibly changing the Students’ Association title, here are other examples of resolutions we are currently working on: altering two more position titles (executive administrator and chief communications officer to chief of staff and press secretary) respectively, adjusting the campaign and election process to allow a ticket system, changing the funding regulations to better empower student organizations, equipping committee chairs with formal responsibilities, creating a judicial board of students, and allowing a student representative to sit as a non-voting member on ACU’s Board.
The changes will be focused on increasing our student government’s effectiveness and positively impacting the student experience. Any formal alterations to the student Constitution passed by the Student Congress will be sent out to the entire student body for a ratification vote. We understand progress is impossible without change and we want to bring the change about.
With this in mind, let me personally extend a hand for you to join us in this process by communicating with your congressional representative, positions are listed on saacu.com. Your ideas and feedback are incredibly valuable for us to gain a better understanding of how to smoothly make this transition into a new era of ACU student government. My dream involves students believing that ACU student government holds an incredible opportunity to unify students for a mission bigger than us and students joining a calling worth investing in. We promise to work hard and listen to you until the attitude of the student body towards SA reflects the kind of leadership my team strives to exhibit.
Finally, I want to thank students for the tremendous honor to lead the Students’ Association. I pray you will partner with us this month to create a student government that better engages, equips, and empowers students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.
Sincerely,
Danny Burke
Students’ Association Executive President
