The Student Government Association held its first Senate meeting of the semester at 9 p.m. Sept. 1.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Margaret Toston addressed the chamber. She spoke about university administration and what students can do to help administrators, though the senate meeting as a whole focused on individual committees and their goals for the year.
“We want to know what you expect from administration. You are the voice of the students, your voice carries a lot more weight than mine … and you have got to remember it. You own this campus. You pay our salaries and I need you to start acting like that. Let us know what you need from us. We will give you reports on progress from Soar in Four. … They will be data driven reports. We have to demonstrate to you that we are accountable for providing services that support that initiative.”
“We are well on our way to being off probation (for SACS accreditation),” Toston said, wanting students to be very aware of that. Toston reminded students to take advantage of the new student life office suite in the upstairs of the University Center and be on the lookout for the Career Services Center that is currently under renovation where the information desk was in the UC.
Aside from Toston’s remarks, the majority of the meeting was just a list of all the goals that SGA has this year. Miranda Rutan, student trustee for the UT system, also presented a report on the standing of the UT system. This report included information about the recently passed defunding of the UTK Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the reallocation of those funds to Minority Engineering Scholarships. Rutan also spoke on the passing of legislation throughout the UT System regarding the permission of faculty or staff to be allowed to carry guns if they met certain criteria. For details on these and other UT legislative decision, contact Mirand Rutan or go online to news.tennessee.edu
During the new business segment of the meeting, Will Singer’s resignation as Procedures Committee chairman was accepted, and Breydon Horton took oath to become the new Procedures chair. Nathan Daniels was also approved as the Multicultural Affairs Committee chairman and Shelby Johnson was approved as the Secretary General Executive Assistant.
Next week, members of SGA will be hosting a voter registration drive, so all students can get out to vote.
Students should remember that everyone at UTM is a member of the Student Government Association. Senators for UTM would love to hear students’ concerns and ideas. To find ways to get involved and hear about ongoing legislation within SGA, students are encouraged to attend all senate meetings, which are open to the public. The next senate meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15.
SGA Senate meetings are held at 9 p.m. every other Thursday in 111 University Center, the Legislative Chamber.
