Leadership Highlight: Howard University School of Law Student Government President Jaden Cody

In an effort to highlight the people who are leading colleges and universities across the nation, we at Watch The Yard reached out to Howard University School of Law and did an interview with Jaden Cody, the 2024-2025 Student Government Association president.

The position of SGA president is a highly respected role, and there is a special pride in being elected by peers to lead. Jaden Cody, who is a 3L in Law School, is from Atlanta, Georgia and is a proud Spring 2024 initiate of Alpha Phi Alpha.

We interviewed Jaden Cody and talked to him about his position, goals, future, and what it means to hold this type of leadership position in 2024-2025.

Read the full interview below.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned as a SGA president so far?

This year so far has taught me a lot but at the top of that list certainly has been deciding what fights I can and will give 100% of myself to and what fights I have to be willing to allow someone else to fight or to just float by. As President, there are things that students, faculty, staff, and alums bring to you that are all priorities to them, but as the person who is being asked to solve these problems or champion these causes to others, you have to decide which you will take and how far you are willing to take them.

What made you decide to attend Morehouse College for undergrad and then Howard University School of Law?

I decided to attend Morehouse College for a list of reasons but chief among them, like many the intrinsically sacred feeling of feeling happily at home when I first stepped on campus. For my law degree, I decided to go to Howard University School of Law for a completely different reason. When I was in the final round of decisions choosing between Howard University School of Law and George Washington University, my ultimate decision came down to where I wanted to learn the law. I began to consider how I wanted to be informed about things like criminal law and constitutional law and the lens through which I wanted my professors and hopefully, my classmates to teach the law and look at it from– then the choice became easy.

How has Howard University School of Law molded you into the person you are today?

Howard University School of Law has changed my approach to the law and what I hope my role in the legal field will be. Attending the institution of great and history-forming minds like Justice Thurgood Marshall, Charlotte E. Ray, and AG Letitia James cements that I am not just learning the law but I am preparing to be worthy to join the ranks of Alumni who have gone on to revolutionize in so many ways how people approach the law.

What specific initiatives have you headed up this year (or are planning), and how do you think they will improve the school and surrounding community?

During the fall our programmatic focus was voting rights and election protection. Throughout the semester and leading up to the election, we hosted many voter registration events both registering people in the community to vote in D.C., as well as voting planning events, helping out-of-state students to make voting plans to either vote in person or request absentee ballots. Additionally in the fall, we sent over 100 students across the country to engage in voter education and voter protection work the week before and the week of the General Election. Our students traveled to Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and Pennsylvania and engaged in the necessary work to help secure our most basic rights.

Though many of our students and community members wanted a different outcome in the election, our student volunteers reported that they enjoyed not only their time on the ground working with attorneys, and organizations but they appreciated that they got to help secure rights for people who didn’t always believe in what they believed. For law students, it reinforced our responsibilities as practitioners to abide by the law rather than choosing when we would like to and when we wouldn’t.

How is your SGA administration/school currently working on attending to the mental health of students?

This semester, given the climate of the country and specifically for Black and Brown people, we are planning more events centered around joy and the student experience. We want to create space for our students to create community within the institution and have a safe space to experience joy. Additionally, we have been working with our University counterparts to push and provide more mental health resources and outlets for students.

What does leadership mean to you?

Growing up in the South and in the Christian church you learn whether formally or indirectly that great leadership is a necessary tenant of a great life. What and who you are led by can and will directly impact your life. So leadership to me is very important and means the difference between living a life that I will look back on happily and that my family will ultimately benefit from and not being able to do those things. As a leader myself this is one of the lenses through which I look at my position, having this vision of leadership means that as long as I am acting as a leader and in this position I should be ensuring I am worthy of following.

We now live in a digital world, what do you think schools need to do to represent themselves online in 2025?

Schools have to prioritize their voice and place in the digital space, specifically HBCUs this is an opportunity for them to reach populations of Black and Brown students who might have in the past been able to say, I never heard about going to Howard or going to Morehouse until my senior year of high school. Now due to the breathe of platforms and opportunities through content creation HBCUs can reach more people and more people can see the amazing things that happen on our campuses. So I think HBCUs and all schools should put a focus in their communication strategy on socials and content creators and use it as a way to expand our impact and reach.

Why do you think Watch The Yard is important to Black students and college culture?

Watch The Yard is a safe and consistent space that is made with the Black consumer in mind, highlighting the full and positive Black experience for our culture with a focus on our educational and collegiate culture. Where so many other outlets use HBCU culture, Greek culture, and Black culture as a way to get views and only share the negative things that relate to those spaces, Watch The Yard consistently chooses to share and platform positivity and light and does so very well.

What do you plan on doing after graduation?

After I graduate in May, I plan to sit for the bar in New York and after passing it (the first time) and I plan to work and begin my career practicing in New York.

We at Watch The Yard would like to commend Jaden Cody for his work as the SGA president of Howard University School of Law.

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