The Student Association of Mississippi State University is now accepting  forms of intent to run for Student Association Executive and Senate seats.  Forms are due Jan. 19 at 12 p.m.  The candidates meeting will be held in the Fowlkes Auditorium at 5 p.m.  All students may run for positions in the SA as long as they meet the requirements.  
In addition to the regular Senate seats, students can now run for seven newly-created  ‘‘at-large’’ Senate seats recently added that represent the entirety of the MSU student population.
SA elections will take place on Feb. 2 and voting will be held from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. that day. Voting will take place through OrgSync. If a runoff is necessary,  it will be held on Feb. 4.  MSU has recently combined MSU Meridian campus’ SA and MSU Starkville’s SA into a single MSU student association, and students from both campus’ can run and vote for every position. 
All students running for a SA Senate College seat must have a declared major at the time of the election.  All undergraduate student candidates must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50.  Freshman candidates do not have any GPA requirement.  Undergraduate candidates must take at least 12 semester hours with at least nine of them being held on the Starkville campus, also known as Campus 1.  Graduate Candidates must have a GPA of at least 3.00 unless entering graduate student where 2.50 is required.  They must take at least nine semester hours with at least six of them being held on Campus 1.  
Roxanne Raven, the Vice President of SA, said, “The SA’s purpose is to represent the students.  We are totally focused on serving students and work relentlessly behind the scenes to improve the college experience for them.”
Jamie Aron, SA Chief Justice and Elections Commissioner, said elected students will represent the student body in various meetings across campus.  The students will initiate legislation to change policies and procedures and will vote to fund other organizations on campus.  They also run MSU’s special events such as The Drill, Bulldog Bash and Campaign for Change.  The main role of the Student Association is to serve fellow MSU students. 
“The SA is important because it actively seeks to represent student needs in every way- by talking to administrators about student complaints, working with faculty senate to form academic operating policies, and to create programs that make student life on campus more fun!” said Raven.
In addition to creating the at-large seats, SA also recently ruled there will be one senate seat for every 550 students, lowered from the previous 650 students-per-seat rule.  
“As far as the SEC goes, our SA is one of the smallest if not the smallest.  SA is committed to having a more diverse group of students involved with the Student Association, and I believe diversity is the result of inclusion.  So to be more diverse we need more seats,” SA President JoJo Dodd said. 
Looking ahead to the coming elections, Dodd said, “Folks will be out campaigning for those two weeks talking to different groups and getting out in front of people.  It should be a pretty active time.”
The SA has many different venues to get involved in.  It has four separate divisions: the executive council, Cabinet, Senate, Class Council.  The Executive Council is composed of both elected and appointed officers.  These officers are the official representatives of the SA and are responsible for the overall direction of the organization.  
The Senate is the elected body that represents each academic college and handles legislation affecting all areas of campus.  It is made up of both undergraduate and graduate students.  Senators are responsible for introducing any new motion, bill, act, resolution, amendment, or question that has the possibility to better student life at MSU.  
The Cabinet is made up of policy, programming and public relations positions with the members serving as student directors.  It develops and implements programs and events for the students throughout the year.  It advocates and provides entertainment for students.  
The Class Council is comprised of students in the SA from each class that work to fundraise for the annual class gift.  This council consists of eight to 16 members, with two students from every classification.