This Week In Student Government - Nov. 14

 

(Source: via Flickr)

Here is a recap of The Student Government Association at UT-Tyler's Nov. 14 meeting. 

Summary

I adjured student government in the Open Forum segment to act now to improve students' parking experience before the semester's end. I asked them to tackle the question of a parking fine increase and their support for a reinstatement of the volunteer faculty & staff remote parking shuttle of 2017. They addressed the parking fine increase, but took no action, neither on the fine or the remote shuttle. 

Faculty Senate President Dr. Amentahru Wahlrab took senate questions during Speaker's Podium. He briefly touched on controversial Texas legislation S.B. 17 and S.B. 18 (which ban DEI offices and modify faculty tenure, respectively) in response to a student question. He said "nothing really changes" for UT-Sysem with regard to tenure approval process and post-tenure review. The process for faculty tenure still goes through the Board of Regents for approval and that the University has a responsibility to honor the "spirit of the law" with the legislature's DEI office prohibition. He said the spirit is ensure no student is "made to feel bad" about their background, socioeconomic position or where they come from. 

The assembly also discussed questions for upcoming Nov. 28 meeting with administrators about parking.

Officer Reports

  • President Dix - Preparing for Nov. 28 meeting. 
  • Vice President Carnes - Will discuss in Events Committee report. 
  • Secretary Henry - Updating website with SGA information. 
  • Treasurer Peters - Responding to student organization funding requests.
  • Chief of Staff Tropp -  Reviewing changes to SGA bylaws.

Committee Reports

  • Events Committee - Upcoming Christmas toy drive and finals bags after Thanksgiving. Seeking volunteers for finals bags. 
  • Communications Committee - Did not meet.
  • Appropriations Committee - Women in Math and Science requested $120 for Friendsgiving event and Black Student Association for $137.50 for Vision Board event. Up this week: Reformed University Fellowship and Student Veterans Association
  • Rules Committee - Discussed possible changes SGA House Rules. Said removed "fluff rules", Rule 5: Point of Order, corrected simple grammar. Affected rules are Rules Two, Four and Five. Advisor Neaves spoke about Article 10. Committee decide on this issue next week. Also reviewed my (James Hescock's) essay about abolishing the presidential veto. Said they will discuss it further at later meetings. 
  • Environmental Sustainability Committee - Waiting on updates regarding recycling and trying to plan recycling events for Houston Engineering Campus.

Student Voice Reports

  • Health Science Center - Students are doing fine and career workshop coming up. 
  • School of Medicine - Student senate met and discussed how to use access to student funding for senate budget. Senate will meet again week after Thanksgiving Break to prepare for UT Student Advisory Council meeting on Dec. 1 & 2. Medical School students who move to Tyler still having trouble with student housing, transportation. 
  • School of Health Professions - Advisor appointments more difficult because the school lost an advisor.

Old Business - None.

New Business 

Nov. 28 Meeting

President Dix reviewed the questions she has asked administrators coming to the Nov. 28th meeting to prepare to answer. She said Director of Emergency Management and Safety Robert Cromley has not yet confirmed his. 

One senator asked Dix if these administrators can address pedestrian safety at this meeting. Dix it is not likely a topic administrators will be able to address. (They are coming for a discussion about parking.)  

There was another request for administrators to bring a copy of the strategic plan so the assembly can have clarity on proposed parking lot and construction campus locations. There was also a suggestion that authorities direct Victory Village residents to use the remote parking shuttle on University Blvd. It was unclear if they already do this. 

[Sen. Templeton moved to close discussion.]

Open Forum Topics

Vice President Carnes moved to open discussion about "what was discussed in Open Forum today." 

None in the assembly appeared to raise his hand when Carnes asked by show of hands who felt student government "was doing nothing about parking." By contrast, most most present senators raised their hand when he asked who feels "competent to inform their peers about what student government is doing about parking." 

Carnes said there is "stuff we're going to talk about that meeting on Nov. 28" that shows more of what student government is doing. 

He then asked senators what they feel about raising the parking fine. Most senators seemed to approve of a parking fine increase, with multiple commenting in favor, but no one moved for the body to take a formal position on a fine increase. 

Other senators called for increase enforcement of parking regulations and to make exceptions for on-campus student workers who use 20 minute parking. Another senator offered the idea of zoned parking as a solution. 

[Vice President Carnes moved to closed discussion.]

Advisor Comments

Good job and a lot of great discussion.

Announcements

No meeting next week. (Thanksgiving Break.)

Meeting adjourned at 1 hour 23 minutes.

Meeting video available on YouTube.   

Sign-up for my newsletter! 

X: @Jhescock12

Feature Image: Via Flickr. (Source unknown!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Primer to University Governance - Part One

Image
  ( Photo : ''Court Gavel - Judge's Gavel - Courtroom'' by wp paarz via Flickr ) The following is a primer to internal university governance. When you're a student, it is easy when you want to do something for yourself. Want to drop a class or change your majo r ? That's no problem. Yet, the moment you want to do something for the student community, say end a student fee or save the mascot from extinction, then you enter the realm of campus politics. Reforming campus policy requires you engage with the structure of university governance and that you participate in a democratic process. For this, you need to understand the university’s governance structure and how the powers that be set university policy. To the average student, all of this can be quite foreign. So to help students understand university governance, here is a primer to university governance. Everyone can have an introductory understanding of university governance if they understand th...
Read more

OPINION: SGA's Inaction On Student Issues Not For Inability To Act

Image
    (Logo. Source: Student Government Association at UT-Tyler.) Student government elected a new chief of staff this week in a special meeting at the end of the semester. Senator Jennifer Chandler won the assembly's vote in a three-way race among two other current SGA members, Allison Schwartz and Tyler Paige. Student members spent nearly an hour both investigating and discussing who should be the next officer in the association's executive board. That members take such an interest in their organization's affairs is commendable. However, given that the assembly displayed how it has the capacity to both investigate and deliberate over a subject matter with rigor, then I ask, why it could not also demonstrate this same rigor in matters that are undeniably of popular student concern, such as unavailable parking space and advisor shortages? The assembly's ability to both convene a special session and to debate the issues at length demonstrate that members have the ability t...
Read more

OPINION: SGA Election Awards Residential Students More Representation

Image
    (Logo. Source: Student Government Association at UT-Tyler.) Student government elected a new chief of staff this week in a special election at the end of the semester. Senator Jennifer Chandler won the assembly's vote in a three-way race among two other current SGA members, Allison Schwartz and Tyler Paige. In her campaign pitch to the assembly, Chandler championed her priority for inclusion and accessibility in SGA as well as her three years of experience as resident advisor (RA) in Ornelas Hall student housing.  With Chandler's election, Student government advances yet another residential student to a position of power. There is nothing is wrong with this in principle. After all, all students, both residential and commuter, have the right to participate in student government. However, given the obscurity with which SGA operates to most commuter students, it is mostly residential students who know about its activity and therefore stand the most to benefit from their ...
Read more