Burnt Orange Report

SG/Senate Issues Again!

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I got the greatest letter today from SG President Brent Chaney, one of those so called "inside circle" memos that the Texan talked about last week. It is in regards to the Voting Student on the Board of Regents issue which was been discussed here and here before.

The letter is awesome (Brent could be a blogger) and I suggest you read it in full if you like UT stuff.

The last UT System Student Advisory Council Meeting was held on Friday and Saturday before making our recommendations at the May Board of Regents Meeting. It is important you know what happened because students were poorly represented again.

Day One:

I arrived Friday afternoon having already sent in the Voting Student Regent letter to all of the members receiving only an e-mail from Nick saying it looked good. The meeting had been going on for three hours and Nick [Staha, Senate of College Councils chair] still had not shown up leaving UT Austin represented by only me. I finally called him and he said he was sleeping. Nick came to the meeting only to block the letter from leaving his committee. I was glad I called to remind him of the meeting while he was sleeping.

The current Chair and Advisor for UTSSAC moved the letter away from my committee and gave it to Nick’s committee. Of course I had a problem with this and protested, but they insisted citing that Nick’s committee had very few recommendations (They actually had the most recommendations). Nick’s committee dropped the letter. I was not allowed there or to have any say.

Then nominations for next years UTSSAC exec begins. The UT Tyler President and I were nominated for Chair. Nick was nominated for Administrative Assistant and Vice Chair. The problem with two UT Austin students getting recommended is that next year there would be no new members from UT Austin because there can only be two representatives from each component school. I shared with Nick that I would resign if we both were elected because I believe there needs to be new blood on the council every year. He disagreed strongly and said we can both serve without a problem.

Day Two:
The committees give their reports to the greater body to be voted on. Everything went smoothly until the Student Regent recommendation came up. Once again Nick spoke out against it, at one time calling it “crazy.” I offered to fix wording if needed, but Nick continued his crusade against it. The time for voting comes and the adviser deems a student body president ineligible because he is doing an internship in Austin and is not full time at his University. He also disqualifies the other representatives from that school because he says the president of their University had not officially named them to be on the council. The student body president and vice president from UT El Paso did not show up. They were all very much for a student regent.

The time for voting comes and the Administrative Assistant on Exec calls for a secret vote. I challenge the secret vote on the grounds that one person should not be able to make that decision. The Chair conveniently had the page already turned in front of him and read the rule for me. A number of Student Body Presidents then made motions that the vote not be secret and the Chair ignored the motion due to the secret ballot papers already being passed around. There went accountability. Student Regent lost by a vote of 10-9 with one abstention with a secret ballot.

It was sad to see the interests of students of our University and the system get thrown away by ridiculous arguments. Nick is quoted in today’s Texan citing the reason why he was against it that “Most that voted thought getting a student as a member on the board was a good idea but not for us to ask the regents to do something that was illegal” It is amazing how asking the Board of Regents to write a letter of support for a student being on the Board of Regents is illegal, but the tax-free textbook recommendation which pointed out certain bills that the Regents should support had nothing wrong with it. Nick is wrong.

The elections for Exec happened next. Nick was also nominated for Chair. I was elected Chair and will serve the students of our System next year. UTSSAC will not have anymore secret ballots or misappropriated recommendations. If you have any questions about what happened please let me know. Students deserve better.

For those wondering about a Voting Student Regent, this will not slow anything down. One student from our University will not ruin what everyone else believes in. The students of UT System are for a Voting Student Regent. UT Austin will continue to take the lead for student representation.

I hope you all had a great weekend and as always please let me know if there is anything I can help with.

Best,
Brent