Student Government suspends rules, introduces new executive council, proposes new resolutions
EDITOR’S NOTE 06/01/2022: A source’s last name was updated to their preferred name.
At the final Student Government (SG) meeting for the Spring 2022 semester April 19, the executive council suspended the rules for the third time in two weeks for student organization fund requests. The meeting also included presentations from two candidates for the SG Executive Council vacancy election and a vote on three student-led resolutions.
Suspension of rules
At the April 12 SG meeting, the executive council suspended the rules in order to fund two different student organization social events with fund requests of less than $150. At the April 19 meeting, the executive council suspended the rules again for a similar request under $150. The Student Government constitution outlines “SG will not fund more than 50% of the cost of any event excluding speaker fees of $100 or less or travel events.”
The fund requests were still voted on by attending organizations. The initial justification to suspend the rules comes from the executive council who wished to use the remaining SG funds ($21,686.52 as of April 19) to help student organizations fund their events. The executive council discussed an amendment to allow fund requests of $150 or less to not have to sit on the floor for 30 days before a vote but the current SG Executive Council left the proposal of the amendment to the next executive council.
The Signal reached out to the former SG President J Scates, Vice President of Outreach and Communication Crystal Woodcock, Vice President of Administration Brandon Woodcock, and Vice President Committee Coordinator Ganesh Nyaupane for comment but did not receive a response.
Vacancy election results
Two SG Executive Council vacancy election candidates introduced themselves at the April 19 meeting: Nicholas Parrott, undergraduate representative for the College of Business announced his bid for SG President and Biology major Nancy Arellano announced her bid for vice president of outreach and communication. Both candidates ran unopposed.
“I was inspired to run because of the incredible love, hard work, success and potential by UHCL’s faculty and students,” Parrott said. “I just want to help as much as possible. I love each and every person at this college and will work very hard to ensure students’ ideas and concerns are heard. I want to help students find great internships and careers and raise scholarship funds as well as funds to aid student organizations. Student Government is going to expand and reach new heights.”
The results of the SG Executive Council vacancy election were officially announced April 26. Parrott was elected as SG president and Arellano as vice president of outreach and communication. They will join Vice President of Administration Jessica Armstrong as the 2022-2023 SG Executive Council.
“Being elected for this position would make me feel very proud as a first-generation college student in my family,” said Arellano “I am very fortunate to be given the opportunity of living in this country where the American dream is possible.”
The newly elected executive council will begin work in the summer.
Three student resolutions pass
Three resolutions were introduced at the April 19 SG meeting.
Helga Schmidt, undergraduate representative for the College of Science and Engineering and former SG President J Scates proposed a resolution in support of a child care center at UHCL. The resolution proposes the construction of a child care center on campus and opportunities for students to develop experience in child care on campus. A child care center has been proposed in previous years but this marks the first time an official student resolution has been brought forth to a vote.
“The resolution lays out precisely what the administration can do to bring this forward to support their student parents better, like conducting yearly needs assessments for on-campus childcare among students, faculty, and staff, and establishing a committee to review the data from the needs assessment,” Schmidt said. “A childcare center would provide even more professional development and hands-on experience of all majors.”
The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) student organization, led by President Angel Khalil and Vice President Bayan Almosa, proposed the Protection and Support of Pro-Palestine Students and Activism resolution. The resolution seeks to cement their right to protest in favor of Palestine on campus and calls on the UH system to issue a public statement affirming the right of all students to organize and advocate for Palestine.
“Since founding this chapter at the University of Houston-Clear Lake last year, we realized it’s standard practice to get a resolution like this passed as quickly as possible as a security measure for students raising awareness and education in regards to the occupation of Palestine,” Khalil said. “For example, last summer, the SJP chapter at the University of Houston Main Campus passed a very similar resolution as ours this week.”
The Support of Pro-Palestine Students and Activism resolution is sponsored by various other UHCL student organizations including Black Student Association, Woman’s Studies Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Latinx and Indigenous Students Taking Action, Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics/Native Americans in Science, Green Thumb League and Helping Hands.
“We hope that the University is willing to have an open mind and an open heart to working with our organization and letting it be known that the University not only supports our organization but is willing to publicly ensure the protection of its students exercising their first amendment right of free speech to bring awareness and education to the occupation of Palestine,” Khalil said.
Seth Mosby, finance major, introduced the last resolution for esports to become the first official sport at UHCL. Mosby seeks to acquire equipment and space to organize and host events.
“I brought the resolution to the senate because I appreciated how other schools were coming together and competing in esports with these large gaming centers, so I wanted a place for the esports students to have a place as the other [system] universities have,” Mosby said. “With this resolution, I would like to find a few teams to support. Mainly [Super] Smash Brothers, Rainbow Six and Overwatch. I’m also very open to creating a team for any game a student would like to see part of esports.”
All three resolutions passed. The former executive council posted the results of the vote on the SG Instagram page. The new executive council will pass the resolutions on to campus administration for further action.
SG meetings will resume during the summer with the newly elected SG Executive Council. The date for the first meeting has not been announced.
