The Student Government Association Senate confirmed three appointments Wednesday and proposed changes to the parking system.
SGA President Samuel Dike appointed Spanish and communication junior Amanda Wong to director of finance, kinesiology freshman Quione Cooke to the Education College seat two and political science senior Mohammad Ahmad to the At-Large seat two position.
"I believe that they will bring a different perspective to the senate," Dike said.
Wong said she was happy to be part of the SGA Senate.
"I am very excited," she said. "I have wanted to be a part of the SGA for a long time."
Wong said she wanted to manage the budget and promote student life as part of the Senate, and said her communication skill, business classes and internship experience will help her become a good director.
Ahmad said that one of his goals as a senator would be to pursue more green projects, such as increasing the availability of recycling bins on campus.
Ahmad, a former Daily Cougar opinion writer, is also a founding member of the Skeptic Society, a UH student organization and a member of Planned Parenthood.
Cooke said that despite having little experience with student organizations, he wants to change the adding and dropping policy at the College of Education. His other goals are to change meal plans and improve parking during his term as senator.
The SGA Senate also proposed amending the appeals process for student traffic court so that students will be able to have a speedy, but fair, process for dealing with tickets.
The bill, authored by College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Sen. Alexander Obregon, proposes to change the appeals process. If a student is not satisfied with the outcome, another appeal can be done to the court, according to the bill. Students are not allowed to have a counsel at the time of the appeal. If unable to appear, the court will decide the case based on written statements submitted and will not hear the student’s argument.
If still not satisfied with the outcome, students can appeal to the Office of the Dean of Students within five days, with the office’s decision being final.
Senators said the five-day timeframe was not sufficient enough and could present problems with receiving the first appeal’s results in a timely manner. A vote on the bill was postponed.
Another resolution authored by Obregon called for support of an e-mail notification system for traffic citations. It passed unanimously.
The resolution has the SGA Senate supporting the Office of Parking and Transportation to seek and implement software that will notify students when they receive a citation. The resolution also seeks a way to inform students of tickets in case they are lost or destroyed so that they can pay or resolve the dispute with the office.
Dike and SGA Vice President Jonas Chin returned Wednesday from a three-day tour from other campuses across the country. They said they observed different student unions, university centers, the impact of student opinion on those campuses and the types of required or optional housing and meal plans made available to students.
Chin said that while none of the campuses matched the University Center’s convenience, some had different food options available to students.
