The Student Government Association (SGA) held its first meeting of the semester on Jan. 14, where members set their agenda for the spring semester.

SGA is divided into several committees, such as Academic, Public Relations, Student Concerns, and Pride, each committed to achieving various goals.

Some goals include creating proposals to change the Marywood “Pacer” mascot, extend library hours, get more garbage cans around campus, and host a “Town Hall” meeting, to name a few.

The Pride Committee is working on trying to change the Marywood “Pacer” name as a way to incorporate a new mascot. Some students are in favor about the idea of changing the name and getting a mascot.

Freshmen art therapy major, Brendon Lane, agreed that “Pacer” didn’t really reflect the competitive nature of athletics.

“I honestly don’t really care about sports, but from what I’ve learned, a pacer is essentially a losing horse and that doesn’t exactly sound good for self-confidence,” said Lane.

The Student Concerns Committee is currently looking into finding a way to extend library hours, particularly around midterms and finals when most students will be studying.

Sophomore criminal justice major, Cody Bachman, said longer hours would be a good idea for the week of finals.

“I would think during finals week we should extend the time. I think closing it at midnight is ridiculous,” said Bachman.

The Public Relations Committee is trying to get more garbage cans around campus as a way to help to reduce litter.

Lane said he would also like to see more recycling cans added around campus. Not all students were on board with the garbage can project. Junior English major, Erica Kester, said that both Marywood and its students should be looking at other problems it is facing.

“I think there are bigger concerns, such as parking, the fact that we are an arboretum, but have no trees,” said Kester.” The list goes on… such as the fact that we can’t walk across our campus right now.”

SGA meetings are open to all students. The next meeting will be held on February 25, at 9 p.m. in Media 160.