Student Association President Michael Hogan was sworn into office last Wednesday night, along with the other members of the executive council.
Hogan said the transition has been smooth and he is excited to officially begin his responsibilities as the SA president.
“Wednesday night of last week my exec and I were choosing cabinet while Shelby Balius was cleaning out this office, and so right when we were done picking cabinet, she had my name plate in the door and had it cleaned out so it felt like a cool start,” Hogan said. “(The transition has) been an opportunity to sit back and be able to talk and be able to have these conversations and do the personal things the SA president should be able to do. I didn’t think I was going to since it’s such a heavy work load, but now being SA president it’s that heavy work load along with a little extra time to put in these extra things.”
Although Hogan has not been in office long, he said he is already seeing his platform come together.
“It’s been a cool thing to be able to begin those things. I spent a long time talking about those things so it’s a very cool thing to start watching those things form,” he said. “It’s a cool thing, but it’s also sometimes a bit, not disheartening, but a little bit of a struggle to be on the other side of things and really see how things work, and see how these big ideas become smaller and smaller with each administrator you go to. And that’s reality and that’s fine, but most of my ideas that are subtle and easily executed, I’m excited about, but the bigger ones, I’m excited about working towards but anxious to see the ending to see the end result.”
One of those struggling issues was Hogan’s idea to wave out-of-state tuition for summer sessions. At the moment, 11 percent of students taking summer classes are out-of-state and pay full tuition. Hogan said he discussed the proposition with multiple administrators and received feedback on the financial possibility of the concept and is hopeful about the direction of his platform.
“There are the big ideas and they are working with me to get the details worked out, and that is much appreciated,” he said. “As a whole, a lot of my things are going to be easily accomplished, hopefully quickly accomplished, but some of the bigger ones are going to be yearlong projects I’m looking forward to.”