Aaliyah Garza/The Rider Photos
Sol Garcia | THE RIDER
On Wednesday, the Student Government Association introduced a resolution that would establish Election Day as a university holiday on even numbered years.
The resolution is meant to promote student voter turnout, especially since rates are low in the Rio Grande Valley and the age range of 18 to 29 has shown the lowest voting rates among all age demographics, Senate Chair Yahia Al-Qudah said during the Zoom meeting.
The resolution reads, “Let it be resolved that The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley establish the first Tuesday following November 1st a University Holiday and Call to Civic Action every even numbered year to further support and promote voter turnout within the Rio Grande Valley.”
After the meeting, the resolution was to be sent to a committee, most likely Campus Life, for review and approval as soon as possible. Once approved, the senate will vote on the bill, most likely through email, so upper administration then has time to review and recognize the bill, Al-Qudah said.
“After it gets approved … by Campus Life, we can send the resolution through email to everyone,” he said. “Then we can have … email voting as the [SGA] Constitution allows.”
If the bill is passed quickly enough, it could possibly be initiated for this upcoming Election Day, but Al-Qudah does not have much hope.
“There is potential, but I don’t really have that high of a hope of it being initiated by Nov. 3, seeing as how we do have a time restraint, but hopefully for future elections,” he said.
Carlo Flores, vice president for the Brownsville campus, and Al-Qudah, who is also a senator-at-large for the Brownsville campus, wrote the bill with contributions from two first-year interns, Megan Solis and Carlos Galvan. The bill was then sponsored by Senators Janette Loera and Michael White.
“All of us can produce legislation that can positively impact our students and our student body as a whole,” Al-Qudah told senators. “Hopefully, this is the beginning of a trend.”
After meeting with the Scholarship Office, SGA advisers Jodie Dominguez and Sabina Ramirez will contact all SGA members separately regarding their individually based stipends later this week or early next week. After SGA members are contacted and informed how the stipend can affect their financial aid package, they can choose to accept or decline it.
“We will be reaching out to each of you all individually, so that way we can share with you all how it will impact your financial aid package,” Dominguez told the SGA.
Stipends will range from $50 monthly for associate justices, the executive cabinet and senators to $75 for the chief justice and senate officers and $150 for the senate chair and executive officers, as previously reported by The Rider.
During the meeting, Senator DesiRae Smith, recently appointed committee chair for Academic Affairs, also discussed Lunch with the Deans. The virtual event will be held from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 27 and 29.
“We are very confident in this event for UTRGV,” Smith said.
The Financial Affairs Committee will also plan an event that will teach students about financial literacy, and student organizations will be able to learn how to handle their budgets, said Senator Berlyn Tijerina.
“We decided to do an event to teach students financial literacy,” she said. “It’ll go over how to budget for organizations, and personal matters, anything that has to do with finance.”
The Campus Life and Community Affairs Committee has contacted Rebecca Gadson, associate vice president for Student Life and dean of students, for insight on actions necessary to remove the José de Escandón statue and contacted University Police to gain more information regarding the U.S. Border Patrol on campus, said interim committee chair Janette Loera.
José de Escandón is known as the colonizer and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander in South Texas, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
Concerns about the statue and Border Patrol on the UTRGV campus were previously brought up to the committee.
The next SGA meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 via Zoom.
Aaliyah Garza/The Rider Photos
