Monday through Wednesday, students will be able to vote for new Student Government Association members, including presidential candidates Odalys Saenz and Josiah Gonzalez, who went toe-to-toe in a debate last Thursday.
The SGA held a 30-minute debate via Facebook live.
Saenz, who is a senator for the College of Liberal Arts and chair of the SGA Internal Affairs Committee, is a psychology sophomore.
Her executive ticket consists of biomedical science junior Juana E. Jimenez, who would serve as external vice president, and biology junior Ihssan Al-Qudah, who is running for internal vice president. Jimenez is a senator at-large for the Brownsville campus. Al-Qudah is an associate justice.
Gonzalez’s executive team is made up of Joe Rodriguez, a criminal justice sophomore running for external vice president, and Arianna Rosales, a management sophomore hoping to become internal vice president.
Gonzalez said his first initiative is peer-to-peer counseling. He explained this would be an anonymous mentorship program created by students for students.
“Students who wish to receive support from their peers may do so anonymously,” Gonzalez said. “We recognize that students may not feel the need to seek professional counseling services like the ones offered in UTRGV. We foresee this program as having freshmen students who are new to university life and need guidance from upperclassmen.”
His second initiative is addressing parking issues. Gonzalez said that Zone 3 parking should be available for those students on the President’s List. His third initiative is to advocate for equal campus and class representation.
In her rebuttal, Saenz said the Counseling Center received a grant and is going to have peer-to-peer counseling officially starting Fall 2023. She added that because of policies, students on the President’s List cannot be academically rewarded.
Saenz then spoke about her team’s initiatives starting with the B3 Institute (bilingual, bicultural and biliterate).
“We have been actively advocating for the UTRGV website to be translated in Spanish alongside the Liberal Arts faculty,” she said. “The translation option is important because many students have Spanish as their first language.”
Saenz said UTRGV is a B3 institution on paper but its actions do not align with the initiative.
Another of her initiatives is to add trackers on all shuttles so students know when they are nearby. Saenz said at the moment, not all shuttles have trackers.
She added that they will advocate for and support all UTRGV DREAMers and all immigrant students, DACAmented and undocumented, regardless of their status.
“Many students, including myself, would benefit greatly if we could have a channel through which we can effectively reach out and receive comprehensive assistance with our FAFSA,” Saenz said, referring to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Gonzalez said the SGA executive team gets access to Zone 3 parking. He added that the SGA needs to do a better job at marketing its current programs, such as concern forms.
In response to a question about campus communication, Saenz talked about having town hall meetings that would include the Harlingen campus.
She suggested gender-neutral restrooms for the new athletic facilities and said that if these could be built, they would add to the equity that her team is advocating for.
Asked by a Facebook viewer how Saenz would help Brownsville art students with the adversities they face every day, she replied that, if elected, she knows students face flooding and lack a proper trail toward their building. Saenz said her top priority would be to meet with College of Fine Arts Dean Jeffrey Ward and establish a “huge town hall where students can advocate these horrible concerns.”
Gonzalez responded to her comment, saying that the university should be held accountable for how money is distributed throughout the colleges.
“The engineering … has a brand-new building,” he said. “We have a brand-new athletics program, a football team and a marching band.”
Voting starts at 8 a.m. Monday and closes at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Besides the two executive tickets, candidates on the ballot for the next term are as follows:
–Laura Reyes Cortes, senator for the Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship
–David Salinas, senator for the Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship
–Ximena Geraldine Larios, senator for the College of Education & P-16 Integration
–John Patrick Flores, senator for the College of Engineering & Computer Science
–Jose Luis Tabarez, senator for the College of Engineering & Computer Science
–Ivan Jacob Vazquez, senator for the College of Engineering & Computer Science
–Victoria Lynn Rivera, senator for the College of Fine Arts
–Gregorio Jesus Zuniga, senator for the College of Fine Arts
–Christopher Manuel Escobar, senator for the College of Health Professions
–Anthony Michael Ortiz, senator for the College of Health Professions
–Jonathan Antonio Rodriguez, senator for the College of Health Professions
–Daisy Anahi Vela, senator for the College of Health Professions
–Alexa Desiree Alvarez, senator for the College of Liberal Arts
–Kassandra Ximena Garcia, senator for the College of Sciences
–Kimberly Moran, senator for the College of Sciences
–Mireya Munoz, senator for the College of Sciences
–Isabella Marie Zapata, senator for the College of Sciences
–Rensanali C. Dela Cruz, senator for the School of Nursing
–Maliha Alam, senator for the Graduate College
–Julianna Castillo, senator for the Graduate College
–Md Mozadded Hossen, senator for the Graduate College
–Evans Nyanney, senator for the Graduate College
–Marco Antonio Amador, senator-at-large for Brownsville
–Juan Jose Espinoza, senator-at-large for Edinburg
–Genesis Ramirez, senator-at-large for Edinburg
–Miguel (Mike) Ramirez, senator-at-large for Edinburg
–Sammy Mohamad Ramos, senator-at-large for Edinburg
–Alexis Uscanga Cadena, senator-at-large for Edinburg
