• Login
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
The Texas Horn
  • News
  • Opinion
  • History
  • Sports
  • About
  • Join
  • Podcast
No Result
View All Result
The Texas Horn
  • News
  • Opinion
  • History
  • Sports
  • About
  • Join
  • Podcast
No Result
View All Result
The Texas Horn
No Result
View All Result
Home News

A Referendum, Renewable Energy, and Menstrual Equity?

All you need to know about Week 9/14 of the student government assembly.

Sterling Mosley by Sterling Mosley
7:00 am, Saturday, September 18th, 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
6
0
A Referendum, Renewable Energy, and Menstrual Equity?

Image created by Olivia Green

59
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

To begin, readers should know that there is an upcoming Student Government referendum next week on September 22nd. The referendum, organized by former representative Jordan Cope, will bar Student Government from passing legislation that doesn’t affect students on campus in an effort to stop representatives from using Student Government as a means to score political points through passing political legislation. If this referendum passes, students in Student Government would be barred from such actions, which would allow more effort to be put towards actual student issues. If you are currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin, be sure to vote on this referendum.

On Tuesday, The University of Texas at Austin’s Student Government met for their weekly assembly meeting. The attendance for this meeting was rather low this week and the meeting itself was shorter than normal, but here is a summary of everything that was discussed and future plans for Student Government here at UT Austin. 

The first thing that was discussed was Executive appointments which basically were introductions by various office holders such as the Longhorn Athletics Agency Chair, the Women’s Resource Agency Chair, and the Co-Director for the Longhorn Service Association. After these initial introductions, representatives went into a discussion about various initiatives that were up for debate. The first legislative item discussed was  “Amending the Code of Assembly Rules and Procedures.” This item was created by the Rules and Regulations Committee to make the Codes and Constitution more reader-friendly and removes “assembly declarations” from the constitution given that they were never used by Student Government. 

The second piece of legislation taken up before the assembly was ‘In Support of UT Producing Energy from Renewable Resources.’ After meeting with faculty, students, staff, and experts, the creators of this initiative called for UT to develop a 10-year carbon neutrality plan which calls for the reduction of emissions and the creation of new infrastructure for energy production such as solar panels. This initiative doesn’t take any stances on how this project will be financed but does call for an exploratory committee to determine where funding can be allocated from and whether or not a carbon neutrality plan (an idea taken up by other universities) is possible for UT Austin. The creator of the bill also stated that due to COVID-19, sustainability projects had been put on the back burner, so this initiative would serve as a fresh restart for sustainability on campus. During the question and answer segment of the debate, the topic of hydrogen energy research was brought up, where it was discussed that potentially UT could become a leader in hydrogen blending technology after its partnership with the Department of Energy. 

Lastly, the assembly meeting was finished out with updates from the Executive Board. The Advocacy Director stated that “menstrual equity” was waiting on confirmation from vendors, while the Financial Director stated that cowboy boots had sold out at the co-op and $20,000 had been allocated to student organizations across campus. The Chief of Staff is also working on securing vendors for the Menstrual Equity Project and there will be a blood drive with the Blood Brigade on October 13th. The Vice President stated that the vaccination incentive program is in full swing and students have already received rewards and that MHART, a mental health response program, is beginning its rollout, and finally, the President talked about the upcoming freshman weekend and the partnership between the UT Co-op and the Student Entrepreneurship Empowerment program which are partnering to select three students to aid the Coop with business initiatives. Government Affairs has begun to work on a Redistricting Resolution to call for fair and transparent redistricting at the upcoming Texas Legislature Special Session by working with state legislatures at the Capitol to specify the resolution’s demands. Lastly, the COVID Committee announced that they will be strongly recommending masks for meetings (they discussed openly that they didn’t want to use the word “mandate”) and want members to test regularly every week.

Tags: energyequityreferendumstudent governmentUT
Sterling Mosley

Sterling Mosley

Sterling Mosley is the Managing Editor of The Texas Horn. He is from Prosper, Texas, and currently attends the University of Texas at Austin as a junior. He is getting a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, History, International Relations & Global Studies, and Government and is minoring in Portuguese, Business, Spanish, and Security Studies. Sterling is an officer at the Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at UT, the Vice President of International Relations & Global Studies, co-president of Intercultural Conversations, Internal Director of Students for Central and Eastern Europe, a member of the Senate of College Councils, an officer in UT Young Historians, a co-team lead for the Innovations for Peace and Development Research lab's Governance Team, and a member of the lab's Political and Economic Sovereignty Team. Outside campus, Sterling has worked with the Borgen Project as a political intern and volunteered with the David Purdue campaign in the Georgia 2021 runoff elections. Currently, he is an intern with the Leadership Institute’s development department in Arlington, Virginia, and is participating in the Heritage Foundation's Academy program.

Related Posts

Unveiling UT #5: Texas Enactus
News

Unveiling UT #5: Texas Enactus

by Amber Williams
Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
Carpenter Campaigns for Community College Change
News

Carpenter Campaigns for Community College Change

by Garrit Blizzard
Wednesday, April 19th, 2023
children in the classroom
News

Parents and Educators Debate School Choice Bill’s Educational Impact

by Amber Williams
Monday, April 10th, 2023

Get The Horn in Your Inbox

Trending Articles

  • Best Joe Biden Quotes

    Best Joe Biden Quotes

    294 shares
    Share 118 Tweet 74
  • Best Kamala Harris Quotes

    401 shares
    Share 160 Tweet 100
  • An Interview with Michael Seifert

    49 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 12
  • Small Modular Reactors and the Future of Energy

    4 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 1
  • The Dangers of Depoliticization and Neutralization

    3 shares
    Share 1 Tweet 1
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Login
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 The Texas Horn

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • History
  • Sports
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team

© 2022 The Texas Horn

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.