DeKALB – Incoming SGA president, Devlin Collins, junior nonprofit and NGO studies major, wants to create a safer campus for students.

Collins joined SGA as a first-year student as a Senator.

“I only stayed on for about a semester, but you know, I was able to get a good sense of what SGA does in a broad sense,” Collins said. “From there, I got to learn a bit more about the different types of conversations that are going on on campus, and that’s when I decided that I actually wanted to join on a bigger level.”

Collins was also highly involved in multiple student organizations such as Black Male Initiative, Black Student Union and the NAACP.

Collins said he likes to help promote events for other organizations as well. He also helped organize the Black Lives Matter march last year, after a racial slur was spray-painted on the Center for Black Studies.

“I just really wanted to go around and just learn what different organizations were just operating on campus,” Collins said.

Being a part of SGA will help him serve underserved student populations. In his case, advocating for anti-racism policies that can help students of color, Collins said.

Collins wants to make sure students are comfortable when returning to school after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Moving into next year, we’re looking to further credit things to help students actually afford college after COVID,” Collins said.

Collins plans to explore more methods to help students pay for school.

“We know that a lot of grants and everything that were given to students this year really did help students afford their courses,” Collins said. “We are looking towards providing some type of aid belong there.”

Collins also said he wants to secure an organized cabinet to effectively help students in the following academic year.

The SGA president’s purpose is to be the chief representative and spokesperson for the student government and the student body, Collins said.

“It is within my duties to sit within these meetings and speak with these administratives in order to talk about a lot of these policies that are affecting the students,” Collins said.

Collins said he wants the environment at SGA to feel welcoming for incoming students.

“I’m looking for us to have that open door for students to come out and get to know us,” Collins said. “The students, new or old, can come out to us and talk to us about whatever it need be, whatever it may be, and you know, it is our job to be there and listen and we are going to take it seriously.”