(Caption, left: The LMU Student Government Association delegation that represented LMU at the recent Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature in Nashville, Tennessee. Back, l. to r.: Dylan Lee, Emily Roark, Austen Smith; middle, l. to r.: Maddison Cooper, Ellen Paul, Madison Criswell; front, l. to r.: Hailey Madden, Robin Reed, Victoria Mounce, Emma Frost. Caption, right: Austen Smith, LMU SGA head delegate for the event. Smith is SGA student body president and served as senator no. 13. He raised his placard to be recognized by the speaker of the senate in order to make a motion on one of the bills.)
The Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) Student Government Association (SGA) recently sent a delegation to the 52nd General Assembly for the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL) in Nashville, Tennessee. The assembly was held in the state capitol, and each delegate had a unique job.
Students representing LMU in the delegation included: Maddison Cooper, representative; Madison Criswell, healthcare lobbyist; Emma Frost, education lobbyist; Dylan Lee, lobbyist; Hailey Madden, journalist; Victoria Mounce, lobbyist; Ellen Paul, representative; Robin Reed, representative; Emily Roark, education lobbyist; and Austen Smith, senator. LMU staff members Kaci Ausmus, director of student activities and engagement, and Hannah Wilson, director of student leadership and outreach, accompanied the group as advisors.
“The LMU SGA delegation truly showed out at the TISL. We had delegates serving in several areas such as in lobbying firms, media, the Senate, and the House of Representatives,” said Smith, LMU SGA student body president. “Altogether, we worked to pass around 100 bills that have a chance of becoming real Tennessee legislation.”
Because the TISL experience is a mock legislature session, college delegations from around the state converge on the state capitol during the assembly. In addition to LMU, delegates represented schools such as Rhodes College, Belmont University, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Middle Tennessee State University. Delegates voted on bills and resolutions to change Tennessee laws, Smith added.
“We spent our time correcting bills in committees, advocating for bills through firms, discussing and voting on these bills, and documenting the daily events,” said Roark, who serves as LMU SGA treasurer.
The mission of the LMU SGA is to facilitate effective communication between students, faculty, staff, and administration to represent them in striving toward an ideal learning community. The LMU SGA will continuously adapt policies for the benefit of the student body.
The history of the TISL “is a story of students taking the initiative and providing leadership to organize themselves, learn about state government, and express their views on state issues,” according to its website. The TISL Senate and House of Representatives first convened in 1966 and meet in the legislative chambers of the State Capitol each November. The judicial branch of TISL is the Tennessee Intercollegiate Supreme Court, which presides over the Appellate Moot Court Collegiate Challenge at the same time the TISL legislature is meeting.
“While attending the assembly, we learned a lot about parliamentary procedure, government operations, prevalent issues, and how other student government associations operate,” Roark said. “We will use what we learned to strengthen our own SGA at LMU in the future.”
“I am extremely proud of our delegation and the impact they made at TISL,” Smith said. “It was a very successful conference, and many of our delegates look forward to participating again in the coming years.”
Lincoln Memorial University is a values-based learning community dedicated to providing educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies. The main campus is in Harrogate, Tennessee. For more information about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at LMU, contact the Office of Admissions at 423.869.6280 or email at admissions@LMUnet.edu.
