![\"Baylor](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/stugovt2-jan15.jpg\")
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\u201cBut as we see it, self government is the inevitable trend of the progressive student life; it is a proven success beyond question in the largest and smallest schools of the country; it is not a moment fad, but a fundamental and logical principle of the American universities and American life.\u201d<\/em> — The Baylor Lariat<\/em>, Oct. 22, 1914<\/p>\n It may be hard to imagine, but there was a time when it was uncommon for\u00a0students to have\u00a0self-representation at colleges and universities. In the months leading up to the Lariat<\/em> quote above, campus buzzed with talk of what a Baylor student government would even look like, who would lead it, and what exactly its constitution would entail.<\/p>\n Earlier that month, the Lariat<\/em> had issued a poll asking students\u2019 opinions on the matter; about 90% of students were\u00a0in favor of self-government. The next steps were gaining the approval of faculty and President Samuel Palmer Brooks \u2013 which wasn\u2019t too difficult, as faculty had backed the idea since its inception.<\/p>\n By mid-December, students had written a functioning constitution, and on Dec. 17, 1914, the first representatives — including the first president, B.V. Ellzey (pictured above left) — were elected<\/a>. The \u201cStudent Self-Governing Association\u201d was finally founded; however, it would take a few weeks — into the new year — for the new system to really get running and for the university to officially recognize the organization.<\/p>\n Today, the mission of the Baylor University Student Government<\/a> is to \u201crepresent the student body, with respect to our Christian commitment and the ideals of Baylor University, through shared governance, as we seek to enrich the quality of student life.\u201d Student Body President Dominic Edwards<\/a>\u00a0(pictured above right) and the rest of the governing members are responsible making sure the students\u2019 voice is heard in the university\u2019s decision-making process.<\/p>\n Sic \u2019em, Student Government!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cBut as we see it, self government is the inevitable trend of the progressive student life; it is a proven success beyond question in the largest and smallest schools of the country; it is not a moment fad, but a fundamental and logical principle of the American universities and American life.\u201d — The Baylor Lariat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}