Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 24, 2016 Page: 2 of 20
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21 NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24,2016 | HILLTOPVIEWSONLINE.COM
SGA currently lacking accountability measures, plans for new ethics code
By VICTORIA CAVAZOS
@viacavazos
The Student Government
Association abolished its ac-
countability code at its senate
meeting Thursday evening,
eliminating internal perfor-
mance reviews a week before
members would have been
subjected to examination.
“I don’t think the account-
ability code that we currently
have is an accurate measure-
ment of our representatives,”
Parliamentarian Faith Castil-
lo said, who authored the bill
and promised to compose a
new “code of ethics” to replace
the old one.
“My biggest concern is if
we are abolishing it tonight
we don’t have something to
look at,” Sen. Paola Gallegos
said. “I can’t really vote on
this without seeing the code
of ethics.”
Though a new ethics code
was proposed within the bill,
Castillo said it would take
her a month to draft it, so
there is currently nothing in
place measuring the associa-
tion’s accountability.
“What this exactly looks
like hasn’t been formulated
simply because we are work-
ing on the language,” Castillo
said.
This motion comes after
eight senators failed their
performance reviews last se-
mester, six of which are cur-
rently senators.
The following senators vot-
ed in favor of abolishing the
accountability code:
♦ Jessica Guajardo
♦ Oliver Guerra
♦ Carlos Martinez
♦ Janelle Nacpil
♦ Dominick Namis
♦ Kennedy Namis
♦ Andrea Ojeda
♦ Greg Reck
Sens. Jamie Cardenas and
Paola Gallegos voted against
it. Sen. David Isaac abstained
from voting. And Sen. Ben
Griffith did not vote because
he sponsored Castillo’s bill.
Cardenas, Isaac, Nacpil,
Kennedy and Dominick Na-
mis and Ojeda all failed last
semester’s performance re-
view. Griffith, Guajardo and
Reck passed.
Castillo explained that
the code of ethics would be
different because “there are
no demerits,” meaning that
members would not be for-
mally reprimanded for not
performing well.
“When everyone is focused
on just that one day to pass
the exam or going [to meet-
ings] because they are going
to get a demerit [if they don’t
go] it doesn’t produce an ef-
fective, functioning student
government,” Castillo said.
Under the new code, Cas-
tillo said, the student body
would primarily hold its
elected members responsible
and members are supposed
to tell each other when they
are dissatisfied with their
performance.
She suggested that this new
requirement would improve
performance within the or-
ganization and admitted that
“no one knew the current ac-
countability codes existed”
until “it came time for perfor-
mance reviews.”
Before the bill was voted
on — after being asked to
clarify this point during the
debate — Castillo confirmed
that fast-approaching per-
formance reviews would be
avoided if the bill was passed.
Sen. Dominick Namis
asked, “How do we actually
keep people accountable?”
“This code of ethics is go-
ing to lend that responsibility
to holding not only yourself
accountable, but each other,”
Castillo said. “There will be a
sanction process, but it won’t
be to where it’s nit-picky for
every little thing, it’ll be: As a
whole, what are you doing?”’
The bill did include a pro-
posal for a “Great Review”
to replace the old perfor-
mance reviews, but both Vice
President Jonathan Edwards
and Castillo confirmed that
the association still has not
ironed out what that would
entail.
“I really want to see how the
accountability thing would
work,” Gallegos said.
Castillo pointed out the
fact that not passing the bill
would leave the old examina-
tions in place.
“If we did not pass this
through, there would still be
an exam because we have to
abide by what would be in
place,” Castillo said.
Although Gallegos per-
sisted, Castillo reminded the
room again that performance
exams would still be in place
if they did not vote to abolish
the accountability code that
night.
“We are short on time for
the end of the semester al-
ready, so to construct a whole
ethics code, vote on it by the
end of this semester... It’s
just a big thought to throw
out there if we are doing all
of this just to avoid the test,”
Gallegos said.
With five minutes left in the
meeting, the senate delivered
its final comments and the
bill was passed.
“Like I said in the begin-
ning, if we did not do this
tonight, everyone would still
abide by a test,” Castillo said.
Students now able to transfer meal plan money to friends in small amounts
JACOB SANCHEZ/HILLTOP VIEWS
New SGA bill to allow $200 meal plan transfers per semester.
By R0SEM0ND CROWN
@rosemondcrown
Beginning April 1, stu-
dents will be able to transfer
and receive meal plan money
from other students as part
of a new piece of legislation
passed by the Student Gov-
ernment Association.
The bill, named “The Circle
of Life,” was authored by Sen.
Greg Reck.
It will allow students to
make two transfers of meal
plan, with a maximum of
$100 each, and totaling no
more than $200 per semes-
ter. Recipients, however, can
only receive one transfer per
semester.
Reck was inspired to write
the bill after noticing the un-
equal distribution of meal
plan wealth, as freshmen liv-
ing on campus are required
to have a minimum of $1,765
per semester. Commuters
and those living in on-cam-
pus apartments only need to
purchase $115 per semester.
“A lot of students at St. Ed-
ward’s have a lot of leftover
meal plan money at the end
of the year and we thought
we could find another way
to use that meal plan money,”
Reck said. “So I thought, why
not create a system whereby
students can transfer money
from one account to anoth-
er?”
In order to make transfers,
both recipient and donor
must go the Hilltopper card
office and present a valid St.
Edward’s student ID. Recipi-
ents must wait three business
days for the funds to be pro-
cessed.
Transfers can only be done
after Nov. 1 in the fall semes-
ter and after April 1 in the
spring semester. Any funds
transferred will expire on
June 30.
Senior Catherine Brandt
welcomes the idea, calling it
progress, but isn’t sure how
many students will use the
new system.
“I don’t really know if I see
people using it, because it’s
just so easy to be like oh yeah,
here’s my card, go,”’ she said.
Transferring Topper Ten-
der is not included in the bill.
In addition, resident as-
sistants or NCAA athletes
cannot participate in the pro-
gram since their meal plan
is provided using university
funds.
Students also cannot trans-
fer funds to or receive funds
from employees.
The limitations on the
amount of transfers is a way
of securing the interest of
parents who provide money
for their student’s meal plan.
“We discussed a number
of stakeholders and at the
top of the list was parents,”
Reck said. “There’s going to
be some parents who are
concerned about where their
student’s meal plan money is
going.”
The April 1 start date for
the program will be a tryout
period. During this period,
the university will track how
much students use the pro-
gram. If enough students do
not use the program, the uni-
versity will stop it.
“I highly encourage stu-
dents to participate in this
program,” Reck said. “I’ve
been at the end of the semes-
ter studying for finals and I
just need to get a meal in my
stomach and I don’t have any
meal plan money on me. If
someone could put $50 in my
account then that could be a
huge help.”
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Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 24, 2016, newspaper, February 24, 2016; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1006747/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.