Student Government held its fourth senate meeting of the semester Oct. 14, focusing on the success of its most recent events along with some upcoming additions to UTD’s campus.
The first presentation of the meeting came from Chad Thomas, senior associate vice president for Student Affairs, discussing the status of the Green Fund. The Green Fund finances sustainability projects like environmental improvements, energy efficiency and waste management and is funded by the Green Fee, a $5 semesterly student fee approved last semester. Thomas said the Green Fund is anticipated to start accepting applications for projects to finance this January and that the Green Fund committee will start reviewing applications in the spring, going on to fund the projects it picks as winners.
Thomas said applications can come from students, faculty, staff, registered student organizations or any other combination thereof. SG later accepted nominations for the Green Fee committee, filling the three spots they were allotted. Similar initiatives to fund sustainable projects exist on other campuses, namely UT Austin, which started the trend in 2010.
Caden Brenner, sociology senior and diversity, equity and belonging chair, said that UTD’s National Coming Out Day Celebration held Oct. 9 was “Student Government’s most successful celebration of all time.” The event had 280 people in attendance along with the most community partners SG has ever had, including representatives from the Black Tie Dinner, the largest LGBTQ+ fundraiser in the U.S.; Prism Health, which provides health services to LGBTQ+ communities, and UTD’s Counseling Center.
With the Nov. 4 elections coming up, the legislative affairs committee is focusing on increasing engagement with voters. The election will see voters decide on 17 proposed amendments to the Texas constitution, most of which focus on tax cuts. To increase voter turnout, Tanay Shrivastav, marketing senior and legislative affairs chair, said there will be two polling locations on campus: the Activity Center and Callier Center.
Giana Abraham, SG president and neuroscience/psychology double major, led the senate in appointing four new senators to create an almost-full senate. Abraham also shared that on Oct. 23 a dedication ceremony at the UTD Silver Line will be held from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
SG’s liaisons on the Committee on Educational Policy said new courses are going to be introduced in the biomedical sciences degree, including research classes, readings classes and more TA positions, along with graduate courses along the same lines.
Near the end of the meeting when SG was accepting public comment, an unidentified student gave their opinion on SB 2972 and Trump’s offer of a university compact to all schools in the U.S. They said that both of these directly affect international students and the courses available to students. The student urged SG to think about how to resist the compact and deal with possible pressures to accept it. They said, “Take the lead, resist, it’s one of your few chances.”
SG meetings are open to the public. The next senate meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the SU Galaxy Rooms Oct. 28.