
Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar
With the closing of UH’s fall semester, the Student Government Association moves into their Spring 2025 semester.
Over the course of Fall 2024, the SGA saw the passing of several beneficial legislation, including securing $63,235 from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to prevent sexual assault and passing the Sheila Jackson Lee Emerging Leaders Expansion act.
The organization also faced a variety of issues, including a mandate from student affairs to rewrite their bylaws and constitution and impeachment recommendations.
Impeachment recommended for President, Vice President
During Oct. 2024, The Internal Affairs Committee, which is responsible for the enforcement of the constitution and bylaws, recommended the Senate to impeach President Diego Arriaga and Vice President Austin Craig.
According to the IAC, Arriaga had engaged in discriminatory practices for terminating former executive branch member, Director of Outreach Bryanna Nimmons while allowing former Director of Multicultural Affairs Parsa Torabi to resign instead in lieu of termination.
Arriaga terminated Nimmons for alleged performance issues during SGA’s End the Stigma event.
In the committee’s eyes, this decision was a large failure of leadership on multiple counts, said former IAC Chair Anahi Ortega on Oct. 9, 2024 at a special session.
“There were discrepancies in the consideration for termination of those directors, but beyond that there was a lack of coordination, communication and accountability,” Ortega said. “Leadership from the top executives of the branch led us to believe that this whole matter could have been avoided if proper leadership had been exercised sooner.”
However, despite the recommendation, no impeachment proceedings were initiated by the Senate.
SGA mandated to rewrite bylaws, constitution
The SGA was delivered a letter authored by Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Paul Kittle to rewrite their bylaws and constitution, as well as fill all vacant positions by a specific deadline.
The letter outlined six key points as challenges for the SGA, where five of the points said the organization failed to fill numerous vacant positions in a timely manner, and the sixth point said the organization changed their bylaws in a manner that weakened the system of checks and balances within the governance structure.
“In its current state, the SGA is unable to effectively serve the student body, and an immediate action from them is necessary,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Vice President of Media Relations Shawn Lindsey in a former interview.
Adding to this, the organization feared being dissolved at the time, despite the letter not mentioning dissolution at any point.
“Our hands are tied and if this is not done by Nov. 26 [2024], the administration will dissolve the SGA to rewrite our constitution and bylaws,” Arriaga said at a meeting on Nov. 13, 2024. “They have full authority under Texas legislation to dissolve us and recreate us. It has happened at other campuses, including UH Downtown and UH Clear Lake.”
No decisions have been made regarding the possible consequences if the SGA chooses not to comply with the admin’s mandate, according to Lindsey in an e-mail sent on Nov. 22, 2024.
The Cougar reached out to Arriaga and Craig for comments on the upcoming elections and updates on the issues mentioned but did not receive a response. Gonzalez directed the Cougar to PR, but received no response.
SGA receives $63,235 from Harris County DA’s Office
On Oct. 29, 2024, SGA relaunched a project to aid and prevent sexual assault on campus. They received $63,235 from the DA office in order to help accomplish their goals.
The project will enable students to submit sexual assault reports without paying.
The funds will also be used for sexual assault awareness events, self-defense items, Couselling and Psychological Service and Equal Opportunity Services.
The Sheila Jackson Lee Emerging Leaders Expansion act passed
The organization passed the Sheila Jackson Lee Emerging Leaders Expansion act, authored by Chief of Staff Daniela Gonzalez and Senator Mohib Awan, during the fall semester.
The act memorializes former U.S. representative for Texas’ 18th congressional district Sheila Jackson Lee, honoring her lasting positive impact on the Houston community.
The act will rename UH’s SGA Emerging Leaders, founded in 2011, in honor of Lee. It will also revitalize the program with expanded duties and responsibilities, including additional leadership training workshops and EOI.
Emerging Leaders serves as an internship program to help individuals understand the nature of both SGA and the University. Graduates of the program often become student leaders across campus, according to the SGA.