Student Government Association President Jonathan Dominguez and Vice President Kimberly Escalante said the SGA is looking to fill 33 vacancies for the 2022-2023 academic year.
In the College of Education & P-16 Integration, there are four vacant positions; the College of Engineering & Computer Science, three; the College of Fine Arts, four; the College of Health Professions, two; the College of Liberal Arts, three; the School of Nursing, four; the School of Social Work, four; the Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship, three; and the Graduate College, two.
The SGA also needs three senators-at-large for the Brownsville campus. In the executive branch, the position of secretary of Administration and Finance is also open.
Dominguez said the organization’s duties and responsibilities will not be affected by the vacancies in the legislative branch.
“Since it’s the first week, this is when things are going to start changing,” he said. “It’s too early to make any assumptions or conclusions about what could potentially happen.”
Escalante added that the current senators are active in the association’s activities. She also said the legislative branch would focus on recruiting senators for colleges that lack representation, such as the College of Fine Arts.
Asked how the SGA would tackle this matter, Dominguez replied that besides participating in events such as The Stomp and Info Depots, the association plans on holding town hall meetings with each college.
“I’m in the works of meeting with the College of Sciences to see how we can increase representation on each campus and how we can get more students involved from the College of Sciences,” he said.
Dominguez said the application is first sent to the executive team. After the team arranges an interview with the student, it decides whether to accept the student or not. If approved, the executive team sends the recorded interview to the Internal Affairs Committee, which votes for or against the candidate. The student is then asked to give a short speech at the next senate meeting where members conduct a final vote.
“They do have to be enrolled in at least six academic hours, so that’s part time,” Program Coordinator Kourtnie Hernandez said about candidates. “And then, they also have to be on good academic standing defined by the university.”
Students must also have completed at least two semesters at UTRGV.
“The most important qualification is for them to have the spirit of wanting to serve, more than anything,” Dominguez said.
SGA applications are available on V Link throughout the academic year.
