SGA president feels Claflin is returning to normalcy

Jabez Roberson is Claflin SGA president.

Claflin Student Government Association President Jabez Roberson said his administration has had successes but there is more to do.

In a meeting with student reporters on Feb. 20, Roberson said that when he ran for SGA president, he was set on revitalizing Claflin’s culture. He graded the administration with a B-, saying that while he is proud of their work, there is plenty more to be done.

“I think we’ve had a really good year from a moral standpoint,” Roberson said. “I can see Claflin getting back to a sense of what some would refer to as normalcy, but there also are a plethora of things that could have been done differently.”

Roberson predicted that there will be more on-campus enrollment post-pandemic, further supporting the return of Claflin’s community feeling. Student health became a big priority for the SGA during a COVID and flu outbreak that happened earlier this academic year.

“And with that, we were able to partner with the nursing center to provide health care kits to students, staff, and faculty,” Roberson said. “I believe we were able to have over 400 boxes distributed with COVID test, masks and just different resources to help students out to ensure safety and lower numbers.”

Roberson said he is grateful to work closely with administration and faculty members. On recent changes, he said this relationship helped with the return of late-night dining hours.

“We were actually able to get that back for this semester,” Roberson said, “which was something else I was very, very excited about because, you know, students really do depend on the late-night cafe.”

Roberson said he is hoping to increase the frequency of town hall meetings, giving students more opportunities to be heard. Meetings have become less frequent compared to last year.

“We’ll be having a town hall every month,” Roberson said. “We’re working with administration to make sure that they’re being held accountable for the things that they promised and the services that they said that they will deliver on.”