On Tuesday, The University of Texas at Austin’s Student Government met for their weekly assembly meeting. The attendance was relatively high, and there was a Zoom option for those wishing to attend online. The meeting lasted over two hours, with five pieces of legislation being considered. There was also an election for the Legislative Policy Committee Chair. The agenda can be found here. The following is what the Student Government talked about for their January 25th Student Assembly meeting:
The meeting began with the Land Acknowledgement, which is a statement read at the beginning of each in-person meeting to pay respects to various indigenous peoples and communities who had previously occupied the land of Texas. Meeting minutes from November were then approved by the assembly. The Speaker, Braxton Cannon, then went over the various rule changes made last semester to Open Forum. Representative Kevin Roberts was first to speak to the assembly. He advertised ‘AB 13: Amending The Code of Rules and Procedures to Enact Part 1 of the SG Ethics & Reform Act of 2022‘ and ‘AB 14: Amending The Constitution to Enact Part 2 of the SG Ethics & Reform Act of 2022.’ These pieces of legislation create a new code of conduct and make various changes to the constitution. It also creates ethics rules, and Rep. Roberts cited various other universities with similar ethics rules for their student governments. There were no questions for Roberts.
Next to speak in the Open Forum was Ethan Smith, the former Housing Policy Co-Director. He has spoken at multiple assemblies to talk about the housing expansion initiative he is working on, and he gave an update to the Student Assembly about its progress. He said that the goal is to increase the number of UT dorms. There is currently a petition under construction that will need to be advertised by the student assembly to pressure the administration further. He also stated that he had contacted the black leadership council. This organization represents various black organizations on campus and has been working with President Kiara Kabbara and a football team captain to author an article about campus culture. There were multiple questions for Smith. He told representatives that once the petition is finished, he will need all organizations from across campus to sign it to showcase that everyone is affected by housing and everyone should have a say on the petition. Smith also emphasized that Student Government should put aside its differences to achieve the mission of increased housing. Smith also stated that he is trying to get a meeting with President Hartzell, and he said he is meeting with the CFO of UT later in the week. After an extension of Q&A time, Smith finished his remarks, and the Open Forum ended.
The assembly was then introduced to a new representative, Isabel Agbassi. Executive appointments were under consideration since multiple executive board members resigned last semester and needed replacement. However, there was an objection regarding the rules, which stated that materials for executive appointments had to be forwarded to the clerk 72 hours before the assembly; however, a representative argued that this was not done. A point of order was then considered, and recess commenced for ten minutes so that the Speaker and the parliamentarian could discuss the question and conclude. The challenge was overturned. The first appointment was for the Administrative Director. Samantha Burg was nominated for the position. She attended UT San Antonio for her first two years and was a representative there her sophomore year. She said that she is very involved in campus life, and she aims to ensure better communication amongst the various agencies and student assembly. She said that in response to last semester’s turmoil, she plans to be active in Student Government and increase communication. However, the student assembly was not convinced, and Burg was not approved to fill the position. The appointment will be considered again next week. Next up for approval was the Chief of Staff position. Ubah-Kamilo Moalim was nominated for the position. She, too, is a transfer student, and she plans to get as involved as possible in the UT community. She stated that being part of a black Muslim woman’s marginalized community allows her to bring a different perspective. She said that the protests at the Tejas House last semester in response to sexual assault allegations were a good direction, and she stated that she doesn’t have any allegiance to the executive board. She was then confirmed by the student assembly and sworn in by a supreme court justice. The final appointment was for Vice President. Willie Crawford was nominated for the position. He was in Student Government two years ago as a representative for McCombs, and he also emphasized his experience as a Camp Texas counselor. He stated that when he came to UT, he thought he would be treated solely as a black student. He hopes to create a seamless transition between the current executive board and the next executive board. After brief questioning, the appointment was not approved by the student assembly.
Next on the agenda were representative reports, three reports given by representatives to let the student assembly know what they were up to:
- Representative Albert Perez, who focuses on emphasizing blockchain expansion within the UT community and having more philanthropy for Greek life.
- Representative Natalie Ward is currently focusing on a scholarship fund in Student Government and getting more people from the College of Education involved in Student Government.
- Representative Eva Kahn is working on a climate action plan and climate action day. She is working with Capital Metro to create a workshop on campus for students to raise concerns and questions about the light rail that was confirmed for construction. She is working on sexual assault resources and abortion funding projects.
New business was next on the agenda, and the first to be discussed was ‘JR 21-12 A Joint Resolution in Support of the Establishment of a Disability Cultural Center.’ The authors of the resolution stated that they have been working on the initiative for over a year and a half, and it is a physical space for people with disabilities to form a community. The resolution is to show support by the Student Government for such a project. The center’s purpose is to provide a safe space for disabled students and neurodiverse students on campus. There were no questions, and the JR was passed onto the student affairs committee for review. Next on the docket was ‘AB 13: Amending The Code of Rules and Procedures to Enact Part 1 of the SG Ethics & Reform Act of 2022.’ The legislation was constructed over winter break, making various reforms to quorum. It requires that an explanation accompany a veto for legislation by the President. The President not signing legislation after seven days leads to the legislation becoming active. It makes agencies present what they are up to to the student assembly. It ensures that the executive board can’t make privileged motions and other reforms. During the Q&A, it was asked if the authors were worried that one of the reforms centered around lowering the quorum requirement to only half of representatives and whether those half would represent the student body effectively. The authors stated that it is in a representative’s vested interest to come to the assembly and work on legislation and be compelled to attend due to ethics rules. There were various other procedural questions regarding appeals of chairs, calling points of orders, and other votes. Next up was ‘AB 14: Amending The Constitution to Enact Part 2 of the SG Ethics & Reform Act of 2022.’ This legislation is a continuation of the previous reforms and adds the following: adds six university-wide representatives, it adds a line of succession, and it considers violations of the code of conduct to be impeachable offenses and other minor reforms.
Most Q&A revolved around whether adding six new representatives was wise and whether six was the correct number. Some suggested four representatives, while others suggested eight. Ultimately, the change in number wouldn’t go into effect until 2024. The Q&A period was then concluded, and both pieces of legislation for new business will be voted on at the next student assembly. The final piece of legislation up for discussion was ‘AB 15: A Bill to Formally Adopt the LSO Common Code (LSOCC).‘ This legislation moves all the bylaws from the Graduate Student Assembly, the Senate of College Councils, and Student Government into a single document when votes pertain to joint resolutions. There were no questions and thus concluded new business for the night.
Next on the agenda focused on old business, which focused on ‘AR 14: In Support of Increasing and Improving Lighting in West Campus.’ The legislation calls for the city of Austin to increase lighting in West Campus. There were no updates on the bill and no questions from the Student Assembly. The legislation passed unanimously.
Next were executive board reports. The Communications Director met with the DESC committee to discuss semester plans; they met with Speaker Braxton to discuss the role of the Comms director and various assembly projects. They also updated the website and met with the deputy comms director to discuss plans for the semester. The Financial Director, who was absent at the assembly and had someone present his report, advocated that the financial committee increase awards from $1,000 to $1,100. He also emphasized that $19,800 was given out to 18 students through the Carreon Scholarship. Also, let the assembly know that special project requests were open to them for financial allocation. Lastly, the President welcomed the new executive appointments and Mackenzie Sullivan, reporting on Student Assembly for the Daily Texan. She also stated that she is working on calling on President Biden to cancel student loan debt and calling on the Texas senators to pass the voting rights legislation before Congress. She also advertised that the Co-op plans to expand the number of student businesses being advertised to 25 to 30 companies to sell their projects in the building.
Lastly, the assembly board reports were up next. The Student Affairs Committee had no significant updates. Financial Affairs stated that special projects were open for SG initiatives, and they let representatives know about the appropriations fund. The Ethics and Oversight committee also had no updates. The Governmental Affairs committee talked briefly about AB 13 and AB 14 and spoke about a joint Covid-19 statement that they are working on to support students by advocating for hybrid classes, recording lectures, and increasing transparency. They also said that they are working with the Senate of College Councils to create a town hall on campus safety that is set to take place in March or April. The Covid-19 Committee let the assembly know that they recommend that further meetings stay online until covid case counts go down to August 2021 levels. Finally, the Speaker Report let the assembly know that the February 1st GA will likely be online and that the assembly is looking for University-Wide nominations for a new representative. The meeting was then adjourned after nearly two and a half hours.
