OVERVIEW

Welcome to the Student Government of the University of Chicago.

Our Student Government was founded on the following principles, as enumerated in our Constitution.

To further the interests and promote the welfare of the students at the University of Chicago; to foster a University community; to represent the body more effectively before University authorities and the community at large; we, the students of the University of Chicago, hereby establish a Student Association under the following Constitution.


Our work is to advocate for student issues with the administration, support student life by funding nearly all registers student organizations on campus, and serve students through our work to make life better on campus.


If you'd like to advocate, support, or serve, then click here to learn about which committees you can join to get involved.

Organization

Student Government's representative body is the Assembly, a thirty-four seat body which is then divided into two, seventeen seat councils: Graduate Council and College Council.  The Councils meet more frequently then the Assembly and members of the Councils are elected by the group they represent, either the Graduate Divisions or one of the four Undergraduate Classes.  Both council's elect their own chairs from their membership, who then both sit on both the Executive Cabinet and Executive Committee.

The Assembly is chaired by the Executive Slate which is elected by the entire Student Association and is composed of a President, Vice President of Student Affairs, and Vice President of Administration.  The Graduate and Undergraduate Liaisons to the Board of Trustees are also elected by the entire Student Association and serve as members of the Executive Committee and Executive Cabinet.

Here's a chart which was presented to the Board of Trustees in the Spring of 2007, explaining the structure of Student Government:


This chart highlights shows the dual nature of the Assembly and the organization of the newly formed Executive Cabinet, which is comprised of the three members of the Executive Slate, the two Liaisons, and the two Council Chairs.  This body will be meeting regularly with high level officers from the University and will serve as an advisory body for the administration on all affairs.

It also highlights the various Committees which are divided into four categories:

  • The University Advisory Committees, whose student membership is appointed from the Student Association by the Executive Slate (light blue)
  • the Assembly Committees (Brown and Yellow) which are comprised of both Assembly Members, who are voted into those Committees by the Assembly, and non-Assembly members.
  • The Student Government Committees are comprised of any interested member of the Student Association (Green)
Click on Committees to learn more.

Not shown in this graphic is another important body, the Executive Committee, which is chaired by the Executive Slate and comprised of the chairs of the various Committees (Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) and Annual Allocations (AnnAl) Chair, Committee On Recognized Student Organizations (CORSO) Chair, Student Life Chair, Campus Services Chair, and Elections and Rules (E&R) Chair) along with the chairs of both the College Council and Graduate Council and both Liaisons to the Board of Trustees.  This body sets the agenda for the Assembly Meetings and is the Leadership Committee for the Student Government.