The Campus Conservative

(Source: The Christian Science Monitor) When I started writing about campus politics, I thought my blog would be a good opportunity for me to share my beliefs and to improve my writing. Yet since my first publication, I have encountered abuse on social media on nearly a daily basis. People who do not like what I have to say will swear at me, mock me, degrade me, accuse me of ill motives, and more. However, no matter what other people choose to do, I, like anyone else, still have a decision to make. How am I going to let this affect me? Am I going to let it hurt my feelings and feel powerless before other people’s hurtful actions or am I going to choose do something else? This kind of stuff used to really bother me, but then I learned how to live free from other people's toxic influence. That is, I learned how to take back my own power that I gave to others. Now that I know how to do this, I don't feel the emotional fallout—the feelings of powerless and intimidation—...

(Source: Period. Inc. Facebook) Many people at UT-Tyler have hailed the recent push to supply feminine hygiene products in bathrooms throughout the university. They herald it as generous, bold and compassionate. Many people cannot see what could possibly be wrong with giving away an endless amount of free tampons to students. But here’s the thing: Just because what you are doing  feels good, does not mean what you are doing is good  in the long run. In the long run, all your service and all your giving, while it feels great to service and to give, might actually be doing the poor harm. As Michael Fairbanks of Harvard University put it, "Having a heart for the poor isn't hard, we all have that. But having a mind for the poor , that's the challenge.” (emphasis mine) If we care about the poor, then we have a responsibility to make sure our serving and our giving do not go beyond helping individuals overcome into making their situation harder . That is, each of u...

(Source: Flickr) In the so-called menstrual movement--which, in part, lobbies government and higher education to provide tampons to women at no cost--there is a lot of talk of how free tampons provide women dignity. On PERIOD, Inc.'s website , an organization that encourages universities to provide free tampons in bathrooms, a red button in the center of the page reads, "Click here to give dignity this holiday season." PERIOD's co-founder Nadya Okamoto spoke of her organization's mission for free tampons this way: “We help people with periods feel cared for and dignified simply by addressing this most basic need.” While in the menstrual movement there is a lot of talk about how free tampons give people dignity, in reality, distribution of free stuff like tampons can actually do more to harm a person's dignity than to help it. Here’s why. This is because human dignity does not come from a handout , but from having a sustainable way of living that l...

(Source: Flickr) Period, Inc. is a national non-profit motivated by the belief that menstrual hygiene is a basic right and has successfully lobbied numerous university administrations throughout the country through its local campus chapters to pay for and supply menstrual products in university bathrooms. UT-Tyler even has a chapter. However, despite all of its fanfare, its claim to menstrual hygiene provides the philosophical framework for legalized theft. Here is why. Menstrual hygiene is not a basic right because it takes other people’s products and services to realize menstrual hygiene. If you think about it, if the output of menstrual hygiene is your basic right, then by extension you have the right to acquire the inputs to realize this right. And you can’t have menstrual hygiene without medical products and services, without tampons and doctor’s examinations. Therefore, what you are really doing in claiming menstrual hygiene as your basic right is making a claim on ot...

(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 s...

Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph University of Texas at Tyler Police (UTTPD) arrested non-student John Arellano, 21, on Sept. 9 with charges of driving while intoxicated. According to the police report, UTTPD observed Arellano's vehicle at approximately 4:24 a.m. cross into the center turn lane while traveling southbound on Old Omen Road near UT Tyler Parking Lot 16. Source: Smith County Jail After traffic stop and evaluation, police charged Arellano with Driving While Intoxicated, a misdemeanor in Texas, and booked him into Smith County Jail with a $1,000 Surety Bond. PEDESTRIAN SAFETY Arellano's arrest comes during a time of growing conversation about pedestrian safety at UT-Tyler after a motorist struck student athlete Justin Bartie while he was walking on Old Omen Road on Oct. 22, 2017. Moreover, UT-Tyler student government recently took action to prepare to lobby City of Tyler for possibly millions of dollars in new city sidewalks. Twitter: @jhesco...

(Source: Flickr) This week, the Student Government Association’s (SGA’s) Executive Board announced that only senators who are at least six weeks into their term are eligible to fill the vacant Secretary officer seat which SGA Officer Braelynn Seely vacated after she replaced Katie Hicken this week as Vice President. But I believe the Executive Board is incorrect. After a review of SGA’s governing documents, rather than limiting officer roles to some senators, I believe every sitting senator is eligible to run for the vacant Secretary seat under the SGA Constitution. In the following, I will attempt to show from the SGA Constitution how I arrive at my conclusion that vacant officer positions are open to all senators and how there is no limitation to senators with six weeks’ tenure. If my interpretation is the correct one, then SGA is out of order and postpone its election until it can execute them within constitutional bounds. So let’s look at the text. THE TEXT SGA’s Co...