More than 200 students are involved in OU’s student government, which represents the student body and its interests to university administrators.

The University of Oklahoma Student Association was founded in 1969 and is composed of four branches: legislative, judicial, executive and programming.

UOSA president Hannah Morris said UOSA is the advocate of the student voice.

“We are responsible for distributing over $700,000 in student-fee money, facilitating and hosting a variety of campus activities and creating programs and projects that improve OU and the Sooner experience as a whole,” said Morris, political science and public relations senior.

As president, Morris serves on the UOSA executive branch, which also includes her vice president, zoology senior Laura Bock, and her cabinet.

During the upcoming semester, UOSA will sponsor events on campus like the UOSA tailgate, Campus Activities Council Welcome Week and Coffee With UOSA.

Students are encouraged to come to these events and get involved.

“Every student has opinions and ideas on how to improve the university experience,” Bock said. “By getting involved with UOSA, students can directly put these ideas to work.”

UOSA also will begin a Freshman Student Council program this year that will deal specifically with freshman concerns. Bock said interested students should look for applications on the UOSA website during the first few weeks of school.

The legislative branch of UOSA is comprised of the Student Congress and the Graduate Student Senate. Around 40 or 50 students make up OU’s Student Congress.

“The role of Student Congress is to help the students,” said Spencer Falcon, engineering sophomore and representative for the engineering college. “We are always open to any new ideas or complaints that students have. They elected us, and we are here to help them.”

From campaigning for a position to helping out representatives, there are a number of ways students can get involved in Student Congress, the best of which would be to contact their specific college’s representatives, Falcon said.

The Graduate Student Senate is comprised of graduate students chosen by their peers within each of the different academic departments on the OU Norman campus.

“Graduate students have interests and needs which are unique from undergraduate students and faculty,” GSS chair Derrell Cox said.

The GSS administers funding for student organizations on campus, addresses academic concerns of graduate students as a liaison between students and faculty, promotes awareness of the diversity of students within the OU community and provides socialization opportunities, Cox said.

“I would encourage students to be involved with the GSS,” Cox said. “There are many benefits of serving as a senator.”

Benefits include participating in the political process at OU, serving the needs of graduate students and working to improve the quality of life for the OU community, Cox said.

Although each organization has its own characteristics and responsibilities, the executive branch, Student Congress and Graduate Student Senate are all part of UOSA.

“It is our goal to make UOSA relevant by facilitating student groups on campus to make their existence easier, to help students network with one another and to make known resources available to students,” Morris said. “When UOSA is relevant, it is visible, and when its visible, it has full potential to serve its purpose. UOSA is harvesting that strong relationship with the student body.”