Students have voice on campus

The Messiah College Student Government Association brings a significant voice in helping to decide college policies and decision-making, but it hasn’t always been this way. While the College was founded in 1909, students did not form a government of their own until 1930.

They called themselves Hapantes, Greek for “all together.” With limited power, the group had one function: to oversee the various organizations of the College. Since its leaders had no work spaces, Enos Hess, College president at the time, shared his office.

In “Messiah College: A History,” Morris Sider wrote, “The student meetings were times of lively discussion and much good humor; they were illustrations of a high social cohesiveness and school loyalty that often existed on college campuses such as Messiah.”

In 1945, Hapantes was renamed the Messiah College Student Association—and later renamed the Messiah College Student Government Association (SGA) in the ’70s.

Today, SGA continues to impact students’ daily living on campus. During his term as SGA president, Todd Abbott ’19 helped launch FalconLink’s master calendar, a web service where students can register for classes, check the number of chapel services they’ve attended and peruse the campus events schedule.

“We were beyond excited to finally share the fruits of our labor with the campus community,” said Abbott, “and are optimistic to see the integration of the calendar to grow and provide value to students and staff for many years to come!”

— Jake Miaczynski ’20