Each year, Eastern’s student body elects members of student government to represent them in a number of issues.

These student representatives can fill a variety of roles in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, such as president, supreme court judge, or a member of one of the committees.

Jacqueline Williams, a senior kinesiology teaching major, is the current student body president. She ran for that position with the hopes of making an impact on the student body.

“As the student body president the primary focus of my position is to hear the students,” Williams said. “I feel like I wanted to be a voice and give that excitement back to the students.”

The executive branch, which includes the student body president, student body executive vice president, vice president for academic affairs and vice president for student affairs, meets at least twice a month.

Those members represent Eastern’s student body in certain on-campus administrative meetings as well as off-campus events like city council meetings.

Payton Ade, the sophomore political science major who has become Eastern’s youngest student body executive vice president, said he likes the political nature of his position.

“As [vice president] I am the chair of Student Action Team which is a lobbying and political centered group for students on campus with the goal of making sure that student voices are being heard to the people that make big decisions about higher education,” Ade said.

Each member also has an extensive list of individual duties which may include overseeing the organization of campus-wide events, updating information for registered student organizations, or keeping track of budgets funded by student activity fees.

Prabin Karki, a junior mathematics major and student vice president of academic affairs, chose his major because he enjoys problem-solving, and that’s what he hopes to do as a member of the executive board.

“I am one of the students that have complains about EIU not offering the programs that I wanted to study,” Karki said. “I am also not very happy with how some of my classes were taught. I wanted some academic changes and luckily Student Government had a dedicated position for that.”

These executive officers are compensated for their work through scholarship money from the university.

Terrence Trimuel, a senior accounting major, is the current student vice president of student affairs. He said he wants to use his position to promote different registered student organizations and boost campus morale.

“I wanted to step into a role where it would challenge and grow me as a person whilst connecting with my peers,” Trimuel said. “I want to aid in boosting school spirit and encourage students to become more involved on campus.”

The legislative branch consists of a student senate which has one seat for every 300 fully enrolled students on campus, with a minimum of 18 and maximum of 30 seats.

The senate votes on and recommends passage or failure of all fee and tuition increase proposals.

The judicial branch, which has not been active on campus in some years, is made up of a student supreme court.