Temple Student Government’s Parliament inducted five students into the legislative body this month.
The 36-seat representative body, which launched last academic year, now has 28 representatives, with eight seats remaining vacant. Parliament inducted four of the five new representatives during TSG’s general assembly meeting on Feb. 19.
Joshua Nablett, a junior education major, was appointed to the LGBTQIA+ seat on Monday. He is the third student to fill this position and said he wants to sponsor resolutions that will improve the lives of LGBTQ students at Temple.
“I want to address the common concerns and interests of the LGBTQIA+ and its allied communities to make Temple a safer and more sociable place to enhance their experience,” Nablett said.
The four representatives inducted on Feb. 19 will fill several seats that were formerly held by students who resigned at the end of last semester. The new members include:
- College of Liberal Arts representative — Dana Freeman, freshman political science major
- Third-year representative — Xavier Washington, junior political science and public relations major
- First-year representative — Jackie Golden, freshman political science and global studies major
- College of Science and Technology — Jade Rapp, freshman biology major
Freeman said while in Parliament, she will attempt to involve students in more leadership-building activities.
“I wanted to learn the political process, and learn how to enact change,” Freeman added. “I want to help people. That’s my passion.”
Rapp said she hopes to pursue a platform to create smaller class sizes in CST and programs to involve more women in STEM fields.
In her new role as first-year representative, Golden told The Temple News that her priorities include making it easier for first-year students to get acclimated with off-campus and on-campus housing options. She also hopes to improve wait times for Tuttleman Counseling Services.
Washington, who was the runner-up for the third-year representative seat originally, said he will hold strong to his original platform, which was to make Temple a more accepting community for international students.
“I know I don’t have much time,” he said. “But, I’m going to try and get as much done as I can.”
The Temple News reported in January that some former representatives felt as though Parliament was ineffective. In that story, Parliamentarian Jacob Kurtz said he wanted to have a “few more representatives” by the end of February.
Seats for fourth-year, graduate, transfer students, athletics, Greek life, the Honor’s Program, the College of Engineering and the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts are still vacant. One at-large seat also remains unfilled.
The five representatives will work until the end of the semester.
CORRECTION: The previous version of this story misstated that Josh Nablett was the first student to fill the LGBTQIA+ seat. This has been corrected to include that he was appointed on Monday and is the third student to hold this position.
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