For nearly one hour after Tuesday evening’s Student Government meeting, seven members addressed the images and perceptions of SG.
During the meeting, graduate representative John Woods suggested the Assembly discuss the fact that too much time during meetings is spent addressing internal issues rather than issues that affect the student body. A 20-10 vote prohibited the discussion.
“We’re taking more time to discuss how we discuss the rules,” Woods said. “I suggest we not bring up as many bills about internal rules and let the rules work as they do.”
Legislation can take one of two forms: Bills affect internal rules, while resolutions pertain to external affairs. At Tuesday’s meeting, a ninth bill to call for a special election was introduced to the Assembly. Usually, there are two bills per legislative session, said Executive Director Natalie Butler.
“There have been changes [to the rules] every week,” Butler said. “[The rules are] not supposed to be changed this often. If there is a change that really needs to be made, that’s great, but small changes are not going to last. These rules don’t matter at the end of the year because the next assembly writes its own.”
Five representatives, including Woods, and two executive members, Butler and Vice President Shara Ma, stayed for the discussion. University-wide Representative Alex Ferraro suggested some SG members are too focused on improving SG’s image.
“Focusing on your image doesn’t improve your image,” Ferraro said. “If you can point to specific accomplishments, that’s how to fix our image. I think we’re so focused on fixing our image, it’s hurting our image.”
He also said debates over parliamentary procedure are held at the expense of efficient meetings and the discussion of issues that directly impact student life.
An Assembly-wide meeting will soon be held outside of the general assembly meeting, Ma said.
At the meeting, the Assembly unanimously passed a resolution in support of Proposition 4, which would create a new national research university fund for Texas institutions if passed Nov. 3. Seven universities, including four schools within the UT System, could receive tier-one status and have access to the fund if they meet specific criteria.
UT-Austin, Texas A&M University and Rice University already qualify as tier-one universities.
“There really are no negative consequences to [Proposition] 4,” said University-wide representative Minator Azemi. “It gives future students a wider variety of institutions to choose from. If there are more options, it can relieve the gigantic student body that we have. If there’s more competition, hopefully that will lead to more competitive tuition rates, perhaps even lower tuition rates.”
