William White, a Student Government Association senator from Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus, spoke during this week’s SGA senate meeting on the Statesboro campus about his proposal to change the university’s alma mater to better include the university’s two new campuses.

White described how during the first meeting of the Armstrong SGA senate, a music education major named Andrew Conger initially proposed changing the alma mater.

Conger came forward with an idea to create a new alma mater song to better reflect a new generation of students, White said.

White outlined his reasons for proposing the change.

“If you take a look at the alma mater, it is very much centered toward Statesboro,” White said. “This institution has grown though, and so this new alma mater isn’t necessarily going to be reflecting us, but the people that come after us who are going to be on all three campuses of the new Georga Southern University.”

White then read a statement from Conger presenting more arguments in support of making changes to the song, since Conger himself was not in attendance.

“Alma maters are symbols of the school they belong to, reflecting the school’s values and culture,” Conger wrote. “The current Alma Mater bares no reference to Savannah or Hinesville, and is rooted in the traditions and culture of Statesboro. I believe that writing a new alma mater can set the tone for what we want the culture to look like on all three campuses for years to come.”

White said the process of having the alma mater changed is in the very early stages and might take some time, but asked for support from the SGA and GS students on the Statesboro campus.

Nathan Weaver, The George-Anne News Reporter, ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu