The Student Government Association has appointed Suchitra Acharjee, a graduate student in the Department of Public Affairs and Security Studies, as the third senator for the UTRGV Graduate College.
Acharjee was advised to give a two-to-three-minute speech before the senate’s vote on her appointment on Oct. 7. She spoke about how her home country, Bangladesh, has the highest gender disparity in South Asian countries and how her participation in the SGA will represent Bangladesh women.
“So, as I stand here today, I represent all the women out there who are fighting regularly for their place to the table and also to achieve equality,” she said.
Acharjee said she did not want to promise that she would make certain changes as a graduate senator but that she would use her good characteristics for the SGA.
“I don’t want to promise that if I become a graduate senator, I’ll do this and I will do that, but I can assure you that I can bring the spirit of open-mindedness to the table and my critical thinking ability to the team, along with my diverse background, strong work ethic and passion for a change,” she said.
During the executive team report, Vice President of Internal Affairs Kimberly Escalante gave an update on the library hours of operation and resources survey that the team is helping with. Escalante said they will meet with the Library Department Oct. 11 to complete “any last-minute touches.”
She also said the team will meet with College of Fine Arts Dean Jeffrey Ward Oct. 13 “to discuss any issues the students in the college are facing.”
Escalante said the team has been working on meeting with School of Nursing Interim Dean Lilia Fuentes and will then plan to meet with College of Education and P-16 Integration Dean Alma D. Rodríguez and School of Social Work Dean Luis Torres-Hostos.
“We are going to want to get SGA representation from these colleges, you know, because we don’t have senators at the moment,” she said.
Escalante also said the parking and transportation focus group study, which took place on Sept. 26 and 27 on both Edinburg and Brownsville campuses, went accordingly.
“Students got to voice their opinions and any issues they had,” she said.
Parking Services Director Pablo Aguilar said Walker Consultants, which is leading the focus group study, also met with other groups, including the SGA, faculty, staff and Student Accessibility Services, and said the study will serve as a road map.
“Our goal, in reality, is to improve the parking at the university, you know, by addressing campuses and area growth,” Aguilar said. “Also [to] promote or [propose] specific projects … to alleviate, you know, current concerns and anticipate future demand.”
He also said Parking and Transportation Services will have a preliminary draft of the results by the end of the year and the complete study by early spring of next year.
The executive team plans to meet again with Parking and Transportation Services soon “to keep the open communication.”
Escalante said students should be on the lookout for an upcoming survey from Parking and Transportation Services.
Aguilar said the survey will focus on recommendations for parking improvements and the students’ experience. He said the survey will be available to students from today until Oct. 28 and will be sent to students’ emails.
Josiah Gonzalez, chair of the Financial Affairs Standing Committee and senator for the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, said the committee approved four applications for student travel funds on Sept. 30 and that they would approve more funds at 7 p.m. that same day.
During the comments and announcements section, Odalys Saenz, chair of the Internal Affairs Standing Committee and senator for the College of Liberal Arts, spoke about the establishment of the Liberal Arts Student Advisory Committee, which the executive team discussed during a previous senate meeting.
“At this moment, everything has been approved,” Saenz said. “We’ll be soon reaching out to every chair in the department under Liberal Arts.”
She said the advisory council will alleviate any problems within the College of Liberal Arts and will give students the opportunity to address their concerns.
