The UTEP Student Government Association held its weekly Senate meeting virtually on Feb. 3 due to the university closure caused by the weather conditions that impacted the region of El Paso.
During the meeting, four appropriation bills were passed by the SGA cabinet. An appropriation bill has the mission to help organizations request funds to endorse travel and non-travel events financially.
Appropriation Bill 51, authored by Morgan Wagner, Rachel De La Rosa, et al, included the sum of $1500 to help defray expenses of sending five students to attend The Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2022 annual conference at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square in San Francisco, California, from Feb. 16-19.
Appropriation Bill 33, authored by Jagadish Paudel, included $409 to help defray expenses of sending one student to attend the Conference in Higher Education Pedagogy held in The Inn at Virginia Tech & Skelton Conference Center from Feb. 9-11.
Appropriation Bill 44, authored by Ernesto Villalobos Jr, requested $350 to help defray expenses of sending one student to attend the Texas Educators Association Clinic & Convention in San Antonio, TX, from Feb. 9-12.
The last bill approved was Appropriation Bill 40, authored by Adan J. Mireles, requesting the sum of $100 to help defray the expenses of the registration of one student to participate in COMAP’s Virtual Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) from Feb. 12-21.
Also, the SGA cabinet appointed Benjamin Shipkey, Alessandra Vasquez, and Xitllali Aguirre for a 30-day trial as Supreme Court Justice.
Furthermore, Beatriz Rodriguez from UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) was present at the SGA meeting with a presentation to inform students about Stress Management and Cultivating Happiness. For more information or schedule an appointment with CAPS, call 747-53–02.
Under executive cabinet reports, President Austin Stephens informed about a meeting with the cabinet for the first time where a new record of two hours and one minute long was achieved. Also, he discussed the significance of the term of accountability with the cabinet.
Vice President for Internal Affairs Samantha Morales informed the cabinet about the importance of monitoring all the movement of senators in committees and of attendance. Besides, Morales discussed Special Projects with all senators to hear ideas on what they will be expected to work on in the upcoming months before the current administration ends.
Vice President for External Affairs Armand Avila informed about a Blue Light replacement app meeting, issues with form permissions are creating confusion of the new MineTracker interface, attendance to Student Advisory Council (SAC) virtually meeting and an update on the Senate meeting location.
Margarita Gomez, chair of the Student Application Review Committee (SARC), also informed that the committee has conducted four interviews and plan to continue interviews. In addition, SARC invited two potential applicants for Supreme Court Justice, one for Traffic Court Justice, and three applicants for Legislative Assistant.
Senator Joseline Avila adjourned the Feb. 3 Senate meeting by unanimous consent.
Eduardo A. Flores is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected]; @eduardo_aa_flores on Instagram; @floreseduardoa on Twitter.
