Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:05 a.m. Feb. 4 to reflect the correct spelling of Kayla Hawley's name.
The Undergraduate Student Congress unanimously voted to remove Vice Chair Rylee Houston during its Tuesday evening meeting.
During the meeting, congress also appointed the president's executive staff, elected congress chair and secretary and clarified member requirements
Electing the chair
The news: The Undergraduate Student Congress voted to approve Hope Rhoads as chair. Rhoads has served as congress chair since April 2024.
What they’re saying: Rhoads said she was proud of how Congress has grown in her time as chair.
“When I started in congress at the beginning of the semester, we were super small,” Rhoads said. “We had around 56 members in our body. Now, we have 153, we have much better engagement. More people are at meetings. People are excited to be here.”
Rhoads said, if elected, she would like to host bill writing workshops and improve speaking to the student body.
“I care about everybody in this room, and I hope everybody knows I care about them,” Rhoads said.
The vote: With a roll call vote of 36-0-0, Hope Rhoads retained her position as chair.
Removing the vice chair
The news: The Undergraduate Student Congress voted to remove Rylee Houston as vice chair. Houston had priorly served as vice chair since April 2024.
What they’re saying: During her presentation on why she should retain her position, Houston said she hopes to improve her attendance at her office hours and at committee meetings, as well as work closely with the executive cabinet to improve public relations.
“I love hosting orientation. I love making presentations. I love meeting with the committee chairs. I love having office hours and having a place where people can just come and feel welcome and eat candy and play with fidget toys,” Houston said.
Houston said she intends to further develop cross-committee collaboration.
“I want to just be a lot better at creating relationships with our committee chairs and just making sure that they feel very supported,” Houston said.
A roll call vote was held following executive session where all 36 members of the body voted to remove Houston from her position.
SGA President Carter Strickland said this was the third no confidence vote he’s witnessed since he’s been in SGA and he has never seen a member of congress leadership be removed, let alone unanimously.
“Former Vice Chair Houston is a good friend of mine, and I have known her for a while,” Strickland said. “I have not served in Congress for a while now — since January of ‘24 — so I don't know personally how sentiments have gotten to this point, but I wish the best for her, and I look forward to working with the new vice chair in the coming months.”
In response to what might have prompted the unanimous vote, Secretary Chloe Harris said she believed the representatives reflected on Houston’s time as vice chair and made a decision to the best of their abilities.
Congress members hold an emergency recess to submit nominees for the position of vice chair.
Following the roll call vote, the meeting went into an emergency recess, during which Rep. Marilou Bento, external affairs chair, and Rep. Aaron Gilson-Bond, sustainability chair, were both nominated for the position of vice chair. Voting for this position will take place at the Undergraduate Student Congress’s next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
The vote: With a unanimous roll call vote of 36-0-0, Rylee Houston was removed from her position as vice chair.
Electing the secretary
The news: The Undergraduate Student Congress voted to approve Chloe Harris as secretary. Harris has served as secretary since April 2024.
What they’re saying: Harris said she was proud of how many people came to her office hours and of her own attendance and performance. She said she has become stricter regarding meeting absences, specifically as an incentive for members to attend meetings.
“No, I have never missed a meeting, any of them — exec, committee, (congressional administration), our general body meetings, I have never missed,” Harris said.
The vote: With a unanimous roll call vote of 36-0-0, Chloe Harris retains her position as secretary.
Appointing executive staff
The news: The Secretaries of the SGA Executive Office of the President Appointment Act of 2025 appointed the secretaries of the executive office for the Strickland-Dunlap administration. The following students were appointed to each respective position:
Josephine Nicholson – secretary of campus relations
Joseph Harroz III – secretary of external development
Abbey Gross – secretary of communications
Noah Brown – secretary of student belonging
Mohammed Elgouhari – secretary of strategic initiatives
Kendell Coppinger – secretary of fiscal responsibility
Mercer Martin – secretary of student services
What they’re saying: SGA President Carter Strickland said he, Vice President Avery Dunlap and Chief of Staff Ellie Wolthuis selected the candidates they deemed best fit for each role.
“We have seven very qualified, kind-hearted and eager candidates for these roles. They are students just like you, and they decided to get involved in SGA just like you,” Strickland said. “And after taking bias training, looking at their applications and conducting interviews with them, these are the seven candidates that we just had to go with.”
Rep. Shrey Kathuria called for debate on the bill, which was agreed to by a vote of more than a two-thirds majority.
During the debate, Rep. Aaron Gilson-Bond argued that Kendell Coppinger, the candidate for secretary of fiscal responsibility, did not have the registered student organization experience appropriate for the position. Coppinger responded that the job served as a liaison for executive office financials and she wouldn’t directly manage RSOs.
Kathuria argued that Noah Brown, candidate for secretary of student belonging, had a history of absences from committee meetings. Brown responded that he was dealing with a loss in the family during that time. Bento confirmed that those absences were excused.
Rep. Owen Cunningham responded to the concerns about some of the candidates' experience.
“So while yes, some of these candidates, you might see them as having a lack of experience, I think that that lack of experience can also translate into a willingness to learn and work with others,” Cunningham said.
The vote: The Undergraduate Student Congress approved all nominated secretaries. The individual votes are listed below:
With a vote of 34-0-0, Josephine Nicholson was voted as secretary of campus relations. Rep. William Beasley left the meeting during the vote. Rep. Hudson Harris did vote during the roll call but Secretary Chloe Harris was unable to hear him.
With a vote of 35-0-0, Joseph Harroz III was voted as secretary of external development.
With a vote of 27-8-0, Abbey Gross was voted as secretary of communication. Rep. Marilou Bento, Rep. Ava Burnett, Rep. Aaron Gilson-Bond, Rep. Kayla Hawley, Rep. Kyle Martin, Rep. Thomas Richardson, Rep. Caleb Robinson and Rep. Cade Walker all opposed Gross’ appointment.
With a vote of 34-0-1, Noah Brown was voted as secretary of student belonging. Richardson abstained during the vote.
With a vote of 35-0-0, Mohammed Elgouhari was voted as secretary of strategic initiatives.
With a vote of 35-0-0, Kendall Coppinger was voted as secretary of fiscal responsibilities.
With a vote of 35-0-0, Mercer Martin was voted as secretary of student services.
Congressional service requirement
The news: The Clarifying Information about the CSP Act amended information about the constituent service point in the Undergraduate Student Congress bylaws. The update adds the term “constituent service point” into the bylaws.
A constituent service point is earned by a congress member by participating in OU events each month. These events include meetings of registered student organizations and other university-sponsored events. A congress member must earn at least one point a month.
What they’re saying: Rep. Syed Aslam, who authored the bill, said the wording before the amendment made it unclear if SGA members got credit for attending meetings outside their committees and did not reflect the terminology often used.
“I also want to introduce the term constituent service point into the bylaws. It's a term that we use a lot, and it's a term that you could not search and easily find,” Aslam said.
The vote: The Undergraduate Student Congress approved this bill with a vote of 35-0-0.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure.
