This week marks many beginnings for our university. We begin a football season in which the Crimson Tide will defend Alabama’s thirteenth national championship. This week sees the beginning—for many of us—of the real work of our fall course schedule. We begin a new month, and we—as a student government—begin a wealth of new projects and programs that will cultivate an even richer college experience for the Capstone’s 30,000 students.

I also am beginning what will be a regular monthly column for this publication. Perhaps no other outlet on campus reaches as many students as The Crimson White, and I’m excited to take to its pages to keep you more engaged and informed on the work of your student government.

That work has begun at a fast pace. This week, we will receive the applications of about 500 freshmen to become involved in SGA through the First Year Council. These freshmen represent the best ideals of our campus: an eagerness to serve our community, a passion for leadership, and a genuine interest in solving problems and bettering our already unique campus experience. We also have begun accepting applications to serve on SGA committees. This opportunity allows for those students still seeking involvement to have a voice on campus and in their SGA.

We’ve also successfully begun a new initiative that will positively impact the football game day experience for many students. Over 1,000 students have already enrolled in the High Tide Club, a reserved seating section in the south end zone upper deck, and more students continue to enroll each day. This program allows students to get even more out of a football game than just the excitement of cheering on the Tide. It offers scholarship giveaways, free concessions, High Tide T-shirts and an express entry gate to Bryant-Denny.

Perhaps most importantly, the success of this program directly impacts the success of our SGA in securing the maximum amount of student tickets possible next season. This program is off to a great start, but, again, this is only the beginning.

This week also will see a new, full-scale awareness campaign for football ticket penalties. The time must end when students completely fail to utilize tickets to Alabama football games. Our SGA has worked hard to institute mechanisms for students to easily donate their tickets to other students—maximizing our presence in the student section and assuring that students who lack tickets have an opportunity to receive them each week.

As many of you have read on the pages of this newspaper this week, we’re seeing the beginning of a more diverse, more inclusive student organization seating section at home football games. Applications this year were stellar and I’m proud of the fact that all organizations who applied were able to secure reserved seating. This is an exciting example of students from every corner of campus engaging in the valuable programs of our SGA.

It’s an exciting time for our student government, a time rich with new projects and events that we hope will be successful and provide useful resources to our whole student body.

But it’s an even more exciting time to be a student at this university.

In my campaign, I promised I would work each day to make our SGA—and, more broadly, our campus—more inclusive and diverse. I promised to be transparent in the actions of the SGA, and I asked all students to hold me accountable to the most rigorous standards imaginable. Today, as we enter a new semester, I am hopeful that the promises I made are beginning to be realized.

Today, we have a diverse and inclusive SGA. Today, we have a student organization seating section that represents great organizations from every corner of campus. Today, we have more students signing up to be involved in student leadership.

Slowly but surely, I know our campus community is strengthening. I know divisions that have existed in the past are waning.

But I also know we have a long way to go. So, as we begin another momentous period for the University of Alabama, I call on us all to renew our spirit of unity as a student body and rededicate ourselves to the work that lies ahead in bettering our campus for all students.

James Fowler is a senior majoring in business and political science. He is the president of the Student Government Association.