New legislation to amend the Student Government Association Senate bylaws to specify concerns of each Senate standing committee were passed during Wednesday’s meeting, supporting the creation of college councils and the promotion of the Keep A Child Alive program.
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Sen. Alex Obregon was also elected Speaker Pro Tem.
The bill to amend the SGA Senate bylaws states that because the SGA Code is "ambiguous when outlining what realm of issues are designed to each Standing Committee," it enacts that Title two, article seven, section three, clause six be more specific when it comes to the responsibilities of the SGA Standing Committees.
SGA Standing Committees include the Committee on Academic Affairs, the Committee on Student Life, the Committee on Internal Affairs and the Committee on Administration and Finance.
In regards to the resolution to support the creating of college councils, SGA President Sam Dike said he’s learned a lot from town hall meetings he’s been to in the past and that while many students have concerns about campus wide issues, there are still many concerns that reside in their particular colleges.
"College councils provide a way for students to address those concerns directly to the college administration," he said.
Students will be empowered to make changes and develop a sense of ownership and community for their colleges, Dike said about implementing college councils. He said the main goals were to ensure better communication, increase collaboration between student groups and improve community within the colleges.
"Some colleges are already ahead of the game and have already taken steps to establish these student councils; however, there are many that have not established these councils and do not have constructive mechanisms in place to allow students to address their concerns directly to their college administration," he said.
Marketing sophomore Mindy Le attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of the Keep A Child Alive initiative, "a non-partisan American campaign that offers people with the opportunity to provide lifesaving and antiretroviral medicine." The initiative also seeks to provide "support services directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS in some of the world’s poorest countries," the resolution states.
Le, a sponsor of the resolution, said that the resolution calls for the support of the SGA Senate in promoting and advocating the UH chapter of Keep A Child Alive.
She said that the campaign has three events planned in Houston in order to raise funds. The "Party for a Purpose," will have members sell wristbands for $20 to allow buyers entry to any public Houston nightclub through 10 p.m. on Dec. 15.
A Fashion AIDS Benefit Concert on Dec. 20 will feature local and independent artists. Members will also be selling the Keep A Child Alive Black Card, a card that will allot 10 percent of all proceedings from participating businesses to go to the Keep A Child Alive campaign, she said.
"We want to on a one-on-one, personal level to actually have the chance to speak about the actual organization and why we are doing it," Le said.
