The Undergraduate Student Congress saw and unanimously passed seven pieces of legislation during its Tuesday evening meeting.
Following the previous meeting’s motion to see a special vote of no confidence for Vice Chair Sidney May, another motion was seen and moved to table it indefinitely, meaning May will retain office until her tenure is up in two weeks.
Human Diversity Committee Chair Caitlyn Harman and Rep. Nathanael Reese presented a bill in support of the Norman Jewish community through properly defining antisemitism and having the OU community recognize any acts of antisemitism that Jewish students at OU have experienced or witnessed.
Reese, who is Jewish, said his people have been attacked over and over again, and not just during the 1940s with the Holocaust or from the late 1400s to mid-1800s with the Spanish Inquisition. In April 2019, Norman and Oklahoma City had multiple incidents of anti-semitic and racist graffiti across several locations. The suspect was eventually caught and pleaded guilty.
Whenever he started fall term, Reese said he remembers hearing about two freshmen who had anti-semitic imagery in their dorm and nothing had been done. Chair Crispin South said that that incident had been reported to OUPD but he had “yet to hear an update.”
Harman said part of the reason Reese had brought this legislation to her attention was to pave the way for similar legislation for other marginalized groups, such as the 2SLGBTQ+ and Muslim communities on campus.
“I’m already working on some more legislation for the Muslim community,” Reese said. “I’m working with the boards of both the Muslim Student Association and the Shia Student Association to help give me a better idea and some statistics to write that bill specifically for them so I can help them as much as I can.”
South spoke on his Student Regent Resolution of 2022, which seeks to encourage Gov. Kevin Stitt to appoint a student to the vacant regent spot following the resignation of Regent Phil Albert. South said this is something SGA has been interested in since his induction into congress and the idea “gained traction” with state officials during Higher Education Day.
“(A student regent) provides students a direct voice on the highest governing authority of the University of Oklahoma,” South said. “For issues that affect the entire community (and) where students are stakeholders, I believe it is important that students have a direct voice and a direct vote in (these) matters.”
South said his research of other universities who have a student regent, like the University of Texas and University of California, has shown these universities take pride in placing student voices on the board. He also said all communications he has had with the state legislature have “positive feedback,” including from those who have been in contact with the governor’s office.
“I have not received an official response back yet (from Gov. Stitt), but, from what I can tell so far, the vibes are good,” South said.
South and Rep. Michael Williams spoke on an act which sought to have the Parking Appeals Board to waive up to two parking citations by diverting payments to timely donations to the OU Food Pantry. Williams originally approached South with this act of legislation after finding a similar program at Wichita State University called Food for Fines.
After talking with representatives of the OU Food Pantry and the Parking Appeals Board, Williams said they settled on a donation of 80 percent of the monetary value of a parking ticket up to two offenses per school term to be able to nullify it.
“(This way, it’ll) increase the revenue of the food pantry and they’ll be able to order more food,” Williams said. “It’ll be beneficial to the community as well as any other students or anyone else who uses the pantry.”
If passed by the Graduate Student Senate and signed by SGA President Zack Lissau, it will amend Title IV, Chapter 4 of the SGA Code Annotated and become effective on the first day of the Fall 2022 semester.
Congress also saw the Shared Governance Council Establishment Act, which would establish a council composed of students, faculty and staff that will meet regularly, discuss campus issues and make recommendations on university governance and policies.
“This is going to be a really great way for (SGA and the faculty and staff senates) to all coordinate our advocacy efforts,” South said. “If there are really big issues that affect the whole campus community, the shared governance council is going to be a great method for students, faculty and staff to be able to have the leadership all together in the same place.”
If passed by GSS and signed by Lissau, it will create a new law to be added to Title IX of the SGA Code Annotated and will go into effect the first day of the Fall 2022 semester.
Election Commissioner Isaac Kabrick sought to fill the three vacancies in the election commission staff he had with nominees finance and economics freshman Nathan Nguyen, political science freshman Kyle Mershon and political science sophomore Cameron Decker.
Kabrick said, when looking for candidates, he looked for people who were willing and able to debate effectively, or willing and able to disagree in respectful manner, and reach logical conclusions. Each nominee, he said, has demonstrated a record of being able to understand complex policy issues and deliberate effectively.
“The work of the election commission staff is largely deliberation,” Kabrick said. “It’s looking at a set of facts, looking at statements from people who were there and trying to figure out what actually happened and what needs to happen as a result to ensure fairness, efficiency and integrity of the elections.”
Ways and Means Committee Chair Lauren Patton presented a primary bill and an auxiliary bill, which both seek to appropriate the funds of the University of Oklahoma Student Government Association to the organizations mentioned.
Parliamentarian Abby Halsey-Kraus said the difference between primary and a regular auxiliary bill is that primary is seen once a year and funds student organizations for the next fiscal year, which deposits into their accounts in August.
All bills presented during the meeting were passed unanimously and will move to the Graduate Student Senate for further assessment.
As session 107 will end in two weeks, University Policy Committee Chair Graeson Lynskey announced he will not be returning to his position in the next session. He said he was looking for a way to help students through the pandemic and he is thankful for all those he has met in his time in the body.
“It has been my pleasure to come in here every Tuesday night … and do everything I could to serve the student body,” Lynskey said. “I’m hopeful that, going forward, Congress will continue to be an organization that fights and advocates for students on campus, that tries to make real tangible change, that continues to have actual accomplishments that we can celebrate and defeats that can fire us back up and bring us back to the plate when we need to be there.”
Lynskey has served in congress since Fall 2020 and succeeded South as University Policy Committee chair on Feb. 2, 2021.
