Highlights From Student Government's Oct. 10 Meeting

(Source: Student Government Association at UT-Tyler Facebook)

The Student Government Association (SGA) at UT-Tyler met for its weekly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Here are some of the highlights from the meeting.

Tidwell Absent

UT-Tyler President Michael Tidwell did not attend SGA this week after cancelling last week due to an emergency.

SGA President Savannah Seely said he spoke with him briefly this week at a campus event and hopes to nail down a new date for him to address SGA this week.

After mounting effort by SGA members to pass a formal resolution confronting the University administration over what they deemed as “inadequate student input” with rebranding efforts, Tidwell had been scheduled to speak at last week's meeting, but cancelled at last minute.

Draft Resolution Postponed Again

As a result of Tidwell’s absence, Sean Coplen, Chairman of the Student Affairs Committee, the committee in charge of drafting the resolution that lists complaints about student input, announced today that the committee would delay its presentation until after it hears Tidwell speak “so we have a dialogue.”

SGA tasked the Student Affairs Committee to draft the resolution two weeks ago on Sept. 26.

Judicial Board Holding Up Secretary Replacement

The senate is waiting to on a ruling from the Student Government Judicial Board (think: "SGA Supreme Court") about whether nominations to fill the vacant Secretary seat should be open to all senators or not, President Seely said.

Last week, Liberty Landing Sen. Jimmy Counihan reported on Twitter that he asked the Judicial Board to rule on whether SGA Executive Board’s limitation of Secretary nominees last week to senators with at least six weeks in SGA violates the SGA Constitution.

The Campus Conservative Blog concurred with his view in an op-ed last week and argued SGA mistakenly applies rules for campaigning in an election as if they were also rules for holding office.

It thereby wrongly barred senators who do not have six weeks of time in SGA from holding the open officer position in SGA.

Nevertheless, Seely said the Judicial Board will meet this coming Friday to resolve the question and will decide whether all senators are eligible for nomination to the vacant Secretary seat or not.

Seely said a vote for Secretary will "100 percent" occur next week.

SGA Reverses, Opens Secretary Nominations

In lieu of the Judicial Board possibly ruling the Executive Board’s actions as unconstitutional, Seely opened up nominations for Secretary Wednesday to all sitting senators.

The nominations from this week’s meeting are: Sen. Jimmy Counihan (Liberty Landing), Sen. Roberto Camarillo (Soules College of Business), Sen. Jonathan Daniel, and Sen. Caleb Morrison (Arts & Sciences) who immediately declined.

(There may be another nominees that I missed.)

If the Judicial Board strikes down the six weeks standard, all senators nominated this week will be eligible to win the open Secretary seat. If the Judical Board upholds the Executive Board's six weeks limit, then only the three nominees from Oct. 3 are will be eligible to fill the vacant role.

Nominees will speak to the assembly next week before the final vote for Secretary. The final vote will be by secret ballot.

President Plays Politics, Deliberately Withholds Information

President Seely told the assembly this week that she intentionally withheld information about the opportunity to run for Secretary, both for this week and last week.

Seely styled her silence as her effort to "hopefully get the best senators possible" to win nominations for Secretary.

"We wanted you to be nominated by your own merit by your peers and not because someone went to their friend and said, 'Hey, will you nominate me?' or 'Don't nominate this person'; that your peers truly believe you would be great in this spot and that you're well-qualified," she told the assembly

"Because these are the people who know," she said. "They see you in committee. They see how you participate here in [General Assembly]. So this is the best way to make sure that we have the best possible outcome."

Moreover, even Vice President Braelynn Seely, President Savannah Seely's sister, weighed in on trying to influence the outcome of the Secretary election. She told the assembly, "Please want to do the job, not just want the spot because this is more than just the Executive Board."

Braelynn Seely told the assembly last week that she vacated the Secretary because, in part, she felt unfulfilled in the secretary position.

BLOG REACTION: 

Though The Campus Conservative has been very pleased with President Seely's performance thus, her decision to influence the outcome of senate's election by deliberately withholding information creates two serious problems.

First, it threatens the legislative branch's ability to operate independently if the executive branch tries to passively manipulate its affairs. This represents a problem for students who try to manifest their voice through their senators, if the executive branch is trying to squelch that voice.

Secondly, the President's manifest distrust toward the senate in her action must garner some distrust for the President from senators in return. This could be the first of a downward spiral in the senate towards distrustful competition. In the long run, It could end in gridlock and partisanship.

The President would be wiser to choose vocal disagreement over manipulation. However, if the President continues to threaten legislative independence through manipulative action, dissatisfied senators might want to think about running for speaker.

Students Receive Notice Of Secretary Election

President Seely told SGA Wednesday that the Executive Board notified students of the upcoming Secretary election via mass email this week in an effort to accord with SGA bylaws.

BLOG REACTION: 

This blog commends President Seely and the Executive Board for their interest in being compliant with SGA law and for presenting themselves transparently to the student body.

Student Athlete Wants SGA Money

Vice President Seely said a student athlete approached her this week for SGA's financial and organizational support for Patriot Madness, a pep rally type event for women's basketball. SGA's role would be to help to design shirts and provide financial sponsorship.

Seely will meet with the student athlete this week, she said.

BLOG REACTION:

The athletics program, now Division II, has enough of students' money. The school increased tuition in part for DII athletics and the athletics program, despite its own Intercollegiate Athletics Fee which increased this year, already has its own funding. It should not receive SGA's funding, which comes out of the Student Services Fee, a separate fee students pay on the condition that the money goes to something else other than athletics, for which they also pay a separate mandatory fee.

Moreover, the athletics department, this blog believes, already double dips into the Student Services Fee by hundreds of thousands of dollars through funding for athletics programs such cheer, dance team, the Pep band and its own $151,000 budget line, all in addition to the mandatory Intercollegiate Athletics Fee.

There is enough money going from students' pockets to the athletics program. SGA should focus on directing its money, money it gets from the Student Services Fee, elsewhere.

New Campus Signage By Semester's End

In response to a Freshman senator's report that some new freshman have a hard time finding their way around campus, President Seely told the assembly the marketing and facilities are working diligently to have all new signage around campus by the end of the fall semester.

Society of Automotive Engineers Gets $70

The Student Government Appropriations Committee (SGAC) approved $70 for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) student organization this week, which requested money for food at its upcoming meeting.

According the SGAC member's report, SAE welcomes members of all majors and welcomes anyone interested in cars to join the organization.

Longer Hours For Swoop & Go

A Freshman senator said some freshmen have complained about limited on-campus food options in the evenings and said this limitation places significant inconvenience for students without vehicles.

SGA faced this challenge last year with Sodexo. At that time, Sodexo representative Tammy Hill told SGA that Sodexo would be pleased to extend hours of its locations as long as it can receive enough in sales to make longer hours financially beneficial.

SGA took no formal action on this issue last semester.

No Opposition To Senator During New Business

President Seely recognized Sen. Caleb Morrison (Student Body at Large) during new business who spoke at length about an interest to start an interdisciplinary major for transfer students. The SGA adviser, without President Seely's opposition, spoke to Morrison's open question.

BLOG REACTION:

The Campus Conservative Blog notes the contrast of this event during new business with Sen. Zachariah Dare's contribution during new business on Sept. 26, who stated that some students saw menstrual products in bathrooms as "a problem," which it wrote about here.

Morrison offered an open-ended suggestion during new business and received information and a response during new business without making a motion.

However, on Sept. 26, Dare brought up that some students regarded menstrual products in bathrooms as "a problem" to which Seely, an previous member of Period International, referred Date to meeting with her one-on-one after the SGA meeting rather than address it openly.

It is unclear why these apparently similar events had different outcomes during the same segment of SGA's meeting.

More Students Seeking SGA Opinion

President Seely said the Student Engagement Office has received a significant number of student visitors to its office recognizing SGA as the official forum for student opinion, more so than previous years. Seely commended senators' involvement and participation with students for this success.

Domestic Violence Glow Run (Or Walk)

Sen. MacyAnne Williams (Soules College of Business) announced that there will be a Domestic Violence Glow Run this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Harvey Lake. It costs five dollars to participate. Participants can walk, do not have to run, and will receive a free tshirt.

Twitter: @jhescock