Charlotte Shields-Rossi & Liz Mantush | a&e editor & staff writer

This story was updated for accuracy. The name “Mwango Kasuba” was spelled as “Kabusa” on second reference. The correct spelling is now reflected in the story’s online version.

Time has flown this semester, and Student Government Association President Nick Miller said it is thanks to the work he has been doing. From events to meetings and everything in between, there is always something going on.

“I’ve never really experienced time moving as fast as it has this semester,” he said.

As the semester comes to a close, Miller reflected on his first semester as SGA president, while looking toward the future.

Going forward, Miller’s top priority is supporting the Constitutional Committee and their efforts in making the document more inclusive to the student body. The main goal is to increase the total number of senate seats to 52, which is one senator per 150 students in each school within the university. There are currently 39 senate seats, with one senator per 200 students.

“There’s people who deserve that position,” he said. “I don’t see anything wrong with there being more representation of the student body.”

Miller won’t stop at growing the senate; he then wants to reach out to student organizations to see how they can be better supported.

“I feel like we’ve grown into a more comfortable type of space where people feel more comfortable to share their thoughts,” he said.

Additionally, the SGA will hold their meetings exclusively in the Africa Room in the Student Union for the spring semester. Miller said having a central space close to the SGA offices will provide consistency and structure to people wanting to attend the meetings.

Vice President of Mission and Community Samiya Henry said in the beginning of the semester, meetings were hosted in room 119 in the Union. After an increase in senators, they were unable to comfortably fit everybody. Hosting meetings in the Africa Room will better align with their goals of creating an inclusive environment for all students.

“We had grown out of that room,” Henry said. “[The Africa Room] is a place that is much more open and inviting.”

Although Miller’s official role is president of the Student Government Association, he also sees himself as a resource for all students on campus. He said that many of the emails and questions he gets from students aren’t SGA related, but questions about other aspects of life at Duquesne.

“I’m the representative of the student body that people reach out to when they need a representative,” he said.“I’ve never felt this much grace in my life.”

Over the semester, there has been a dramatic increase in attendance to the meetings and applications for senate positions.

“That’s something that we really needed to be successful in student government was for there to be more student involvement,” he said.

Mwango Kasuba, chair of the Government Operations Committee, originally ran against Miller in the spring. Currently in SGA, he credits Miller for filling the current total number of senate seats.

“I think [Miller] is doing a good job,” Kabusa said. “I know he had goals to expand the senate [involvement] this year, and I mean, he did just that, so I’m proud to see that.”

Vice President of Finance Claudio Simione said the inclusive environment that has been created this semester has led to the increase in attendance.

“I think that kind of the theme of this semester has been expansion, and a large thing that our president, Nick Miller, has focused on is inclusion over formalism,” Simione said. “All students are invited to our meetings. All students have a seat at the table.”

Simione agreed with Miller that student involvement is important to a successful SGA.

“SGA does make a big impact on campus, so it is awesome that this year we really expanded our membership and made sure that everyone felt included,” he said.

While Simione is a graduate student, Nick Miller is one of the youngest SGA presidents in Duquesne history. He said that varying ages and experience levels among SGA has been advantageous this semester.

“This executive board has come from all different walks of life,” he said. “It really provides a great difference in perspective.”

Elections will take place in April, and Miller is still undecided on whether he will run again. However, Miller feels no pressure.

“Only a few months into your term, the question comes up, are you going to run again? Well, meanwhile, you just got the position,” he said.

Miller said that when questions like this come up, it’s important to remain in the present. Focusing on his goals and fulfilling the goals he ran on helps him stay on track and not look too far into the future.

“I want to do the best that I can do, and I won’t compromise any of my morals or values in that process,” he said.

Making decisions based on a future campaign will only lead to muddled decisions, he said.

Miller juggles his responsibilities as president, a student and works a part-time job on weekends. Having the challenge of moving between responsibilities and still finding time to breath is a struggle, he said.

“When you’re doing something that you love, when you’re doing something that you’re passionate about, it doesn’t really feel hard. It just feels that the gratefulness that I carry, having gratitude, it helps me,” Miller said.

Charlotte Shields-Rossie can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu

Liz Mantush can be reached at mantushe@duq.edu