COVID-19 has been cause for campus wide postponements and cancelations, and this year’s Student Government Association’s (SGA) end-of-year banquet and award ceremony was no different. 

After every school year, SGA hosts a banquet to celebrate and recognize students and faculty leaders, Campus Partners, Endowed scholarship recipients and “Capstone Hero” honorees. But this year, that banquet was held virtually, saving the student government thousands of dollars.

On Thursday, April 23 at the SGA Senate meeting, SGA President Demarcus Joiner and speaker of the Senate Olivia Davis presented legislation to put those resources into a fund for students who have been heavily affected by COVID-19. 

SGA allocated $8,200 for banquet expenses this year. However, the banquet was via Facebook Live, meaning they did not use any of that money. With this new act, the $8,200 will now go into the SGA Need-Based Scholarship Fund, which is available to all students at the University of Alabama.

“COVID-19 has challenged our student body in so many ways — challenges that, for many students, mean significant financial hardship,” SGA communications director Will Bradley said in a statement posted on the SGA Facebook page on Thursday. “The key responsibility of SGA is serving students, especially when they’re knocked down and need assistance getting back up. Tonight’s unprecedented investment into SGA’s Need-Based Scholarship Fund represents a nearly three-fold increase in funds available to students who need that assistance. This virus has tested all of us, but it has also thickened our resolve to keep passionately serving students.”Student government votes to give banquet funding to students in need