University of Houston Student Government Association Vice President Ian Kariuki (left) and President Tav Cockrell pose for a portrait, Tuesday, June 2, 2026 in Houston. (Oscar Herrera/The Cougar)
Following a year-long hiatus, the UH Student Government Association is returning for the 62nd administration. It will be led by President Tav Cockrell and Vice President and Speaker of the Senate Ian Kariuki. They plan to focus on improving student life, safety and transparency.
The returning administration also beings under a new governance structure. Under revised SGA bylaws, Vice president Ian Kariuki also serves as speaker of the Senate, combining duties previously held by two separate positions.
“We’ve been part of a lot of different successes and opportunities outside the SGA, and that helped us a lot,” Kariuki said. “We were students together, now we’re leaders together.”
Ensuring support
With the new structural foundation finalized, the immediate focus is on legislative efforts on daily campus quality of life issues, and to ensure students feel supported, starting with the ordinary things, said Cockrell and Kariuki.
Cockrell highlighted the importance of the quality services and the state of the campus within. Their goal of improving the quality is to better the day-to-day life for students.
Transit safety initiatives
Safety and campus mobility are top of the executive agenda. Having campaigned on a platform of student safety, Cockrell and Kariuki are reviewing transit services with the Department of Parking and Transportation to create shuttle efficiency.
“We are currently working with parking and transportation on the overall shuttle quality,” Cockrell said. “We are reviewing those services, making sure that you’re getting from A to B, and in the timeframe that you are supposed to.”
The administration is also targeting the University’s transit safety.
“Cougar Ride services are something that we’re helping to improve and engage for students, not just to make it to places, but to make it more effective, more efficient and safe,” Kariuki said. “Getting people in those vehicles and making sure that they’re actually safe and secure is something that we want to emphasize.”
Financial transparency
Beyond physical safety, the administration will be focusing on using their platform to address student affordability.
Cockrell and Kariuki have already launched My Total Cost Planner alongside the financial administrators. The app breaks down tuition, fees and has an add on features for housing and meal plans.
To abide by the new constitutional emphasis on transparency, Cockrell confirmed that the new official SGA budget will be released to the public in August.
“We want to be transparent in what SGA is doing with the funds and what we anticipate doing,” Cockrell said. “So in August, we will have our budget. It’ll be released and it will be public as is every other year.”
Reintroducing SGA to the students
Cockrell and Kariuki have goals to expand student engagement and alumni involvement.
“There is a career service that we’re trying to get more mentors from our alumni to help mentor the students on our campus,” Kariuki said. “It is currently broken down to colleges, but we want to make it a portal where all the mentors are together and it would be a mentorship into life.”
The administration also hopes to reintroduce SGA to incoming students.
“We’ve had one freshman class that has come in with no SGA at all and another freshman class right now that’s coming in, unfamiliar with what it is,” Cockrell said. “That’s incredibly important to us because in order for this organization to operate the way that it should, you need the opinions of those who are going to be here the longest.”
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