State leadership applications open

Sol Garcia | THE RIDER

Applications are open for the University of Texas System Student Regent and The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Student Representative, a Student Government Associate adviser said last Friday.

“The way it works is UTRGV will solicit students that are interested,” Delma Olivarez, associate dean of students said. “You have to fill out a governor’s application, which is a pretty lengthy process. You have to really sit down and put out some details.”

After students fill out an application, they are sent to the SGA president, the university president and the UT System for review. The Governor of Texas will then choose a representative for each position, Olivarez said during last Friday’s virtual meeting. 

The student regent position represents the University of Texas “as a whole,” while the Coordinating Board “is representing the state of Texas, so all institutions of higher education in the state,” she said. 

The applications are due Sunday and are available on VLink.

 During the meeting, the SGA appointed Jose Lozano as the new chair to the Campus Life and Community Affairs Committee.

Lozano, a senator for the College of Fine Arts, said he saw great potential in the committee and looked forward to making students’ campus experience better, if appointed. 

“Whether we’re [on] campus or off campus, we’re still part of the UTRGV community that should always be looking out for each other,” he said. “As a chair of this committee, I will be open and working with other committees to make sure that the students are getting the university experience that they deserve.” 

After Lozano’s appointment, Carlo Flores, SGA vice president for Brownsville, said he and Samantha Aleman, SGA vice president for Edinburg, had met with the UTRGV Counseling Center to discuss its recent partnership, the Mental Health Coalition Initiative. 

“We discussed expanding the coalition to include additional students and other student organizations that are related to this topic,” Flores said. “This is going to be a long-term project that we’re working with the Counseling Center on.”

During the committee reports, Lozano said the Campus Life and Community Affairs Committee is planning a virtual “Campus Life Trivia Night” near the end of the semester.  

“This event will be in relation to the UTRGV campus, and we will also give the students [an] opportunity to express ideas on how their campus life could be better,” he said. 

Yahia Al-Qudah, senate chair, said his mission for the SGA is to make more resolutions that benefit the university. 

“One of the goals of mine is to have more resolutions be made, and not just for the sake of resolutions being made, but also to have them have actual content and substantive material,” Al-Qudah said. 

He told The Rider that the SGA is currently making two bills. The first one is the construction of an interfaith prayer room on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses, if not all campuses, he said. 

“The basic notion of this resolution is to urge UTRGV to possibly set a room aside for students of all religions, or maybe they don’t even have a religion, just a place to pray or meditate,” Al-Qudah said. “Of course, this would be conducted post-COVID, hopefully, maybe next fall, if they choose to move forward with our [resolution].” 

This bill is being drafted and may be introduced in the next meeting.

The SGA is also in the planning stage for a bill that would address students’ concerns about food pricing and limited options on campus, Al-Qudah, who is also a senator-at-large for Brownsville, said.  

“We’ve heard many concerns about the food—maybe not having a lot of options regarding healthy alternatives, organic alternatives, etc.,” he said. “For the pricing, we’ve heard … the pricing on campus [is] a little bit too expensive for students.” 

Al-Qudah suggests students attend the Senate meetings, town halls and tablings, where they can raise any concerns they may have. Those upcoming events can be found on the SGA’s VLink page. 

“I would advocate for students to take advantage, and you never know, you might win a prize,” the senate chair said. “But our main goal is, of course, to have that communication [with students], that we set a standard for the communication on campus.”

Students who are interested in addressing campus concerns should apply for a position in the SGA, specifically in the judicial branch, Al-Qudah said. 

“It is a good leadership position,” he said. “You learn from it. You can develop your skills as an individual and … it shows that you are wanting to be a leader in your community.”

Students can view the eligibility requirements and application on the SGA’s VLink Page.

The VLink page also has a student concern form for any campus-related concerns and two funding applications for student organizations. 

Student organizations can apply for travel funds, which can help with registration fees for virtual events. Student organizations can also apply for the special event funds, if they lack funding for events that they are hosting, Al-Qudah said.  

“We urge students to apply because we can really help,” he said. 

Student organizations and students can learn more about budgeting in the Financial Affairs Committee’s upcoming event, “Dollars and Cents: Student Budgeting 101,” Al-Qudah said. 

“The Financial Affairs Committee would like to educate orgs and students on how to become better at budgeting for their orgs or their personal funds,” he said.