STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station, A6210 · Austin, TX 78712-0810
(512) 471 – 3166 · Fax: (512) 471-3408 · http://www.utsg.org
THE
108TH SESSION
OF THE
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
STUDENT GOVERNMENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY: BRAYDON JONES, UNIVERSITY-WIDE REPRESENTATIVE
CLERK OF THE ASSEMBLY: JORDAN DURRANI
PARLIAMENTARIAN: DANIEL WARNER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Call Meeting to Order
First Roll Call
Approval of the Minutes
Guests
a. Karen Blaney, Program Coordinator of Operations for the Department of Sustainability;
Coordinator for the Green Fee
i. Speaking on Green Fee. Happening across the nation. Every student pays $5 per
semester, began in 2011 continued through 2016. Accepting grants through
March 1st. Two SG students, 3 non SG students, I provide administrative
support. Use governed by the state legislature. Why have a green fee? Done in a
few different ways nationwide. Mandatory tuition fee that is granted out by
student choice. Creative ideas gain own source of funding. Can learn
bureaucracy, environmentalism, and other skills. 103 projects to date. 18 projects
direct to students. Cell charge stations are ours, tree nursery is ours. Solar power
panels on top of Manor Garage. Expanding waste compounding. Create produce
that you can eat, provide educational classrooms. Also a place for student
employment. Why continue? Good for our campus, assessment is good from
McCombs. Maybe the university should take it on—projects would not happen
without this fee. High level of fiscal responsibility. Gathering more data about
this as we speak.
b. Lexi Heller, National Recruitment Team Manager, Teach for America
i. Taught HS SS in San Antonio. Had a great experience with Teach for America
and want to raise awareness about it. Nonprofit that seeks to eliminate
educational inequity. 16 mil students who live in poverty. In those areas, students
are overwhelmingly receiving non-preparatory education. 8% of students from
low income areas graduate from college. Structural problem and thus can be
fixed. 2 year commitment to teach. We recruit broadly because we want leaders
for educational equality, not just teachers. Can go to medical school or law
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station, A6210 · Austin, TX 78712-0810
(512) 471 – 3166 · Fax: (512) 471-3408 · http://www.utsg.org
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
school afterwards with our experience. The higher you go in your career, the
better you can advocate for the kids you once taught. Joey Parr- story about kids
with glasses. Had trouble with glasses, didn’t want to break glasses so he kept
them in case. Examples for teachers who aren’t teachers- I’m a political
consultant now. LBJ taught kids! Have to convince kids of value of education.
Open Forum
a. Jordan Durrani- UTBOX
b. Students with Disabilities director- look forward to new stuff, going to be appreciation
gesture for staff. Thanks for coming to our meeting- Barth.
c. Kendall Hughes- going to Panama, t-shirts are $20 raising funds.
d. Kalie Lang- Federal relations director- HookUp- daily briefing of national news, targeted
towards women. President Obama spearheading initiative, will be lobbying in DC soon,
few experts in the room, will start awareness in issues.
Ex-Officio Member Reports
a. Graduate Student Assembly
b. Senate of College Councils
c. Events and Entertainment
i. Events are all on the website. Texas Union Perry Ballroom, Wed Dec 3- stress
relieving pet therapy dogs. Anastasia- showtime- movies on campus, Lucy movie.
40 Acres Fest, Texas Film Festival. Texas Review, all apps coming out.
Internal Appointments
External Appointments
a. Jacob Thompson, International Program & Studies Committee
i. Each student should have ability to study abroad, widens your perspective.
Upholding your reputation. Q/Patrick- what part of study abroad is most
important to you? Gaining broader perspective. Q/Clifford- Can you talk about
the scholarship opportunities? Move to confirm by unanimous consent. Passes.
b. Trey Black, Information Technology Committee
i. Proficient in python and SQL, understands role as liason. Oversees funding for
web initiatives, including learning opportunities.
Advisor Report
a. Alex Kappus, Deputy to the Dean of Students – akappus@austin.utexas.edu
i. Dr. Lilly wanted to thank students who met with US DoTreasury about student
loans. Will be interviewing candidates for Election Supervisory Board soon.
Sorority and Fraternity Life given generous donation from alum for $1m. OA
selections were made and announced before thanksgiving. Staff set to go for
training. Soncia.r.lilly@austin.utexas.edu First 10 students who email her will
receive tickets . Keep up with yourself. Priority is always schoolwork. I’m your
parents. Yes, this is important.
Executive Reports
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station, A6210 · Austin, TX 78712-0810
(512) 471 – 3166 · Fax: (512) 471-3408 · http://www.utsg.org
XI.
a. Kornel Rady, President – korirady135@gmail.com
i. Goals before time is up. Confirming thanksgiving break, tailgating, Safe ride
money, Student ID as voter IDs, 24/5 FAC, PCL 24/5 year round, helping
create fellowship center who help people achieve such great goals. Working with
Connor Patrick—unique idea that can remove barriers to entry for SG. Stipend
to pay for election funds. Leadership flag. Huge issue on campus- working on
Kevin Hegarty. Honoring President Powers, will work with yall on that. Most
deserving person of an honor. Longhorn Locos- working to create a student
group that will support the basketball group.
b. Taylor Strickland, Vice President – taylor.strickland@utexas.edu
i. Working on Leadership Week. Upperclassman shadow day. Branding, followup
meetings.
c. Chris Jordan, Chief of Staff- christopherjordan@utexas.edu
i. Shoutout to administrators who are here. Told Agency directors to talk during
open forum. FAC kickoff party, got 9 dozen cookies. Going into second phase
of elect ATX, there’s a runoff for mayor race. In need of actors/directors for
Vagina Monologues, it’s low stress from acting/directing. One organizational
outreach initiative. Going to be the overall structure. Opportunities for each, all
going to be big part of legislative day in April. Longhorn Advocates- alumni are
going to be contacted more over winter break. Answer Nathan’s email. SG
listens is live. New Student Services spring transfer week Jan 1. Taking on
Transfer Student Agency director position because of vacancy.
d. Nathan Waters, Communications Director- watersnathan1@gmail.com
e. Rachel Miller, Internal Financial Director- Rachel.miller@utexas.edu
i. Friday is the spending deadline for appropriations. Lookout for break, posting
spring app over the break. Want things to done then.
f. Kyle Mason, External Financial Director- kylemason1@utexas.edu
i. Shoutout to UT IM football, beat A&M, got the trophy back, UT/A&M
basketball at Gregory. Spending deadline December 4th. Focus is undergraduate
research. Focusing on transfer student needs. Lots of momentum behind it now.
Office for Transfer Student.
g. Nosa Aimuyo, Administrative Director- nosaaimuyo@utexas.edu
i. Definitely more to come next semester. Committed to get people in these spots.
Director and Executive Staff Reports
a. Olivia Arena- signs about events at FAC. Once Saturday rolls around, there aren’t any
other early voting places, takes 5 minutes because nobody’s voting on just one day. This
Thursday is get out the vote day. Dec 4 is the big day.
b. Yann Garcia- like to be on camera, want to be in the video. Want to talk to you about
video, will have chalkboards.
c. Ben Norton- I’m an LLA. From Texarkana, TX.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station, A6210 · Austin, TX 78712-0810
(512) 471 – 3166 · Fax: (512) 471-3408 · http://www.utsg.org
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
Judicial Report
Unfinished Business
a. AB 2- Code of Rules and Procedures
i. Amendments were sent in and went over all of them. Met 5-6 times since last
time on hearing all of the issues and making sure it’s good. Some typos initially
and were fixed. Cameron tracked changes. Shoutout to him. End question and
answer. Move to approve by unanimous consent. Passes.
New Business
a. AB 3- Amending the Election Code
i. Lots of comments on how it’s been written. It’s introduced to send to my
committee to work out the kinks. Few different advisory reports. Will be
scheduling meetings for this semester and next semester. If this interests you,
you should get in contact with me. Do a good job of getting everyone party to
this conversation. Q/Cavazos- What specific changes would you like to see?
Definition of agent as worker, something to be fleshed out. Q/Long- open to
adding additional authors? Yes. Everyone who participates will be added.
Committed to rules and reg.
b. AB 4- Referendum in Support of Continuing the Campus Green Fee
i. This bill is to renew the Green Fee. Currently is $5 semester, would increase by
$1, meeting with the green fee committee and want to get your input on this.
Possible increase, could also just do a straight renewal. Q/Banner- graduate
students? Yes. Adding, take the opportunity to talk to your council about this.
Speaker of the Assembly Report- Braydon Jones– braydon.k.jones@gmail.com
a. Rules will take immediate effect. Will be sent to DoS and VP of student affairs. Other
than that, there’s a few changes in the document, please go ahead and do so. It’s our
instruction manual. Assembly Board will look at reps one by one. Will give you an end of
semester report for attendance. Over Christmas Break, want to be in communication
with you to make sure we’re pushing forward. Reps/Assembly Date Night.
Assembly Committee Reports
a. Academic Affairs Committee, Chandler Foster- chanmfoster@gmail.com
b. External Affairs Committee, Jessica Sherman- jessicasherman@utexas.edu
i. Sent 3-4 emails about it, ½ of the assembly hasn’t let me know about outreach.
c. Financial Affairs Committee, Shannon Geison- sgeison223@gmail.com
i. Application for appropriations will be open over winter break. Reach out to
them and let them know things are coming.
d. Governmental Affairs Committee, Sergio Cavazos- sergiocavazos@utexas.edu
i. Planning meetings for next semester. Happy Birthday, updated meeting time by
the end of the week.
e. Rules and Regulations Committee, Melysa Barth- melysabarth@utexas.edu
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
1 University Station, A6210 · Austin, TX 78712-0810
(512) 471 – 3166 · Fax: (512) 471-3408 · http://www.utsg.org
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
i. Shoutout to Allison about planning for meetings next semester. We have 2
weeks, please submit. We’ll include you on all the comments
f. Student Affairs Committee, Jamie Nalley- jamienalley11@gmail.com
i. Congratlatuions to Ethan Orkin for being on our committee. Won’t be meeting
until next semester for AB 4.
Representative Reports
a. Long- put info on the website. Go to tannerlong.com/accountability. Host office hours.
b. Geison- having a mix at six inviting student body. Making really cool publicity. Meeting
their reps. Bior- event can be awesome, there’s a tentative date?
c. Rosales- not released in full form, they’re going to include better ways to have location
based notifications.
Announcements
Santiago- Jester elves singing group
Amber- general uipdate on diversity and inclusion agency- next semester town hall meetings
and other events stay posted
Jordan- Editor Texas undergraduate law review publishing
Second Roll Call
Recess