SGA meeting talks housing

Proposed, upcoming and current campus construction projects were discussed in a Student Government Association meeting on Aug. 31.

The focus of the construction is to entice more students to live on campus through additional housing and better dining facilities, said Associate Vice President for Plant Operations David Irvin, who led the discussion.

“The quad dining facility is a joke, (…) so rather than try to renovate that, we said ‘let’s scrap that,’ and we’re going to do a whole new facility,” Irvin said.

The new dining hall will be located in the park to the west of the quads, Irvin said, and will take UH dining to the next level.

Cougar Village will also be getting an addition, Cougar Village II, which will double the residential space available to incoming students.

“(Cougar Place) needs to come down,” Irvin said. “It probably needed to come down 25 years ago. I think the only thing keeping it up is that the termites keep holding hands.”

The new Cougar Place facilities, designated for sophomores, will provide students a place to live after leaving Cougar Village, Irvin said.

These projects should be completed by fall of 2013, Irvin said, and UH should see the number of students living on campus increase from 8000 to 11,000.

There are also plans for family housing and more on-campus childcare facilities, which will provide married students with on-campus housing and triple the amount of space currently provided for childcare facilities, Irvin said.

Other improvements proposed include two new parking garages, one of which will be stadium parking featuring a sports bar and a gift shop, a transportation hub where campus and metro buses and the light-rail will pick up and drop off students, and additional classroom and research space, said Irvin.

The projects will be funded by a combination of the revenue from the facilities themselves, donation and increases to student costs said Irvin, compounded by the currently low construction costs.

Chief Justice of the SGA Judicial Branch Taylor Killroy, however, advises caution.

“Last year, UH hit a brand new record. We actually beat A&M in tuition. We are now the second most expensive public university in the state of Texas.” Kilroy said, “(…) Students can’t afford to be gouged right now.”

Later on in the meeting, the senate voted to appoint Erika Sanchez as the director of public relation for the SGA.

After the initial vote, the ayes were one vote short of a majority with 17 votes, but Speaker of the Senate Reyes Ramirez added his vote to the ayes, citing the bylaws and saying that he is allowed a vote so long as it changes the outcome of a decision.

Sanchez had served as the interim director of public relations over the summer and wants to establish lines of communication with many of the other groups on campus, like the Daily Cougar and the Student Video Network, she said, and plans on appointing a liaison to facilitate relations with the two campus media sources.

Before the vote was taken, several senators raised questions about Sanchez’s ability to perform her duties as director of public relations without relying on other people.

“Yeah, I can do (my job).” Sanchez said, “And if I can’t, I’ll find someone to help me or I’ll google it and I’ll be able to do it.”