The Campus Conservative

(Image source: The Student Government Association (SGA) at UT-Tyler's YouTube Channel.) On March 28, UT-Tyler President Kirk Calhoun spoke to student government about a number of topics, including his thoughts on the pending legislation in Texas to abolish Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices in public higher education.  His comments are important given that they reveal his approach to these topics as the head administrator at our local state university. So, I included a transcript and video of his statements below. Before I present the transcript, however, I also included a summary. Readers should still read the transcript (or watch the video) to get a feel for how he approaches this controversy around DEI. My summary:  Anti-DEI Office Legislation  Dr. Calhoun apparently believes that UT-Tyler will continue to be able to train students in accordance with accreditation requirements without an actual DEI office. He evidently doesn’t believe a DEI office is necessa...

("Money - Savings" by 401(K) - 2012 via Flickr) Administrative intervention has rendered this year’s Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC) effectively useless. At the committee’s meeting last week, something happened that I don’t think I have ever seen before. Two student committee members—Beverly Luna and Robert Bennett, student government officers both—called on the committee to approve a budget increase for their department, student government. I have found most student members usually lack the confidence to speak up about something they believe in, much less while in front of seasoned staff and faculty. However, these students believed in their program and had the courage to advocate for it. I support them. However, according to Vice President Ona Tolliver, an ex-officio member of SFAC who responded to their request, someone (she did not reveal who) already instructed other service departments to request a “flat” budget for the coming fiscal year. ("Flat" bu...

(Source: "Legal Gavel" by Blogtreprenery via Flickr) Here is a copy of the email I sent to Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC) members this week.  The athletics program must take decisive action to exit its dependence of Student Services Fee (SSF) money or else risk losing its funding from The Student Services Fee. Take a look.  _______ Hello Justin,  Congratulations on your appointment to The Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC). I am a UT-Tyler alumnus and I write an opinion blog about university policy and events called  The Campus Conservative .  I am writing to ask you to take up a greater leadership role within the committee by insisting that the athletics program submit a proposal to increase the athletics fee in Fall 2023 to an amount that allows it to migrate its expenses out of The Student Services Fee (SFF) Budget as a condition for your support for its FY24 SSF funding.  The reason I request this is because the university has fallen short o...