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Volume 94 | Issue 29
Cloudy 67° / 53°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Risk of removal leads SGA to take action Student senate passes bill to circumvent student petitions BY CAROLYN BROWN Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY STEPHEN MASKER/PHOTOGRAPHER
(From left) SGA freshman intern Sean Smallwood, a psychology major, watches as members from several campus groups enter Wednesday’s SGA meeting to protest the student senate’s decision to disallow same-sex couples from running for the homecoming court. Smallwood sits beside fellow SGA freshman interns Michael Chapman, a political science major, and Jonathan Cortina, a radio, television and film major.
Protesters issue ultimatum to SGA BY JOSH PHERIGO Staff Writer
Unified chants echoed off the walls as angry protesters hoisted colorful signs and rainbow flags into Wednesday’s meeting of the Student Government Association in Wooten Hall. More than 50 students and community members voiced their opposition to the Sept. 29th student senate’s decision to deny a proposed amendment that would allow same-sex couples on homecoming court ballots. “This issue is about opportunity,” said April Murphy, an English language graduate student. “The SGA is disallowing the opportunity for a non-traditional couple structure to run. It is discriminatory.” Rally supporters said the actions of SGA were oppressive to students. Protesters stressed that the SGA must overturn its decision, or risk being removed from office. Charles Grand, student organizer and member of the International Socialist Organization, said the 10 council members who voted against the amendment, and the eight who abstained, had failed in their obligation to represent the interests of UNT students. “Those who voted ‘no’ were scared of a few bigots who hold the university purse strings,
and those who abstained are cowards,” Grand said, referring to the SGA’s published statement that cited alumni who threatened to withdrawal funding if the amendment was passed. “We have 18 people that need to be removed.” The rally began 30 minutes prior to the SGA meeting and it was held directly in front of Wooten Hall. The protesters carried signs, waived f lags, presented speeches and shouted chants that supported equal rights for the gay community. At 5:15 p.m., 40 to 50 rally members marched into the SGA meeting room, Wooten Hall 322, accompanied by a chant of “What do we want? Equal Rights. When do we want them? Now.” The protesters stood along the back wall of the room and continued the chant as SGA president Dakota Carter declared that those who do not follow meeting decorum would be removed from the room. Grand addressed the members of the council after motioning for silence from his fellow protesters. “Our demands are simple,” Grand said. “Reintroduce and pass the bill by next week.” The chants renewed at the conclusion of Grand’s speech. After a final refusal to maintain decorum, the SGA passed
a motion to enact an executive session. Carter informed protesters and onlookers that executive sessions are closed to the public. Several protestors voiced their disapproval, announcing their intentions to stay. Three UNT police officers entered the room and peacefully escorted the rally members out of the building, where the rally continued. “We will keep fighting,” said Blake Wilkinson, member of the Dallas organization Queer Liberaction. “We will keep making demands until we get equal treatment at this university, in Denton, in Texas, and all across the nation.” David Sindt, a geography graduate student, said he thinks rallies like this are only the beginning of a serious challenge to oppress the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered people internationally. “The action of the SGA was the last straw that really motivated us to take action,” Sindt said. Sindt said organizers will likely start petitioning Thursday for the removal of the specific SGA members who voted “no” or abstained. “Going up there was our warning,” Sindt said. “Either do the right thing, put it back on the table, pass it, and recognize
that LGBT people exist and that they deserve rights just like everyone else, or they’ll lose their position.”
Threats of removal by petition prompted the student senate to pass a bill Wednesday making it more difficult for students to oust senators from office. The change resulted from the angry backlash caused by the senate’s rejection of a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to run for positions on the homecoming court. “I think it’s important to protect the student senate and make sure they are free to vote how they feel is in the best interests of the students,” said Drew Robertson, senate speaker and one of the bill’s authors. Before, the constitution allowed senators to be removed from the senate by a two-thirds majority vote of the student body’s voting members if a petition with 500 signatures from a senator’s college is filed. Now, in addition to the voting procedure, senators have the chance to defend themselves before a supreme court of five students appointed by the president of the Student Government Association. Before the meeting began,
PHOTO BY STEPHEN MASKER/PHOTOGRAPHER
Laura Lamb, an anthropology sophomore and member of the International Socialist Organization, storms into the SGA’s meeting on Wednesday.
a crowd of about 50 people from organizations including the International Socialist Orga ni zat ion, t he GLBTQ Solidarity group and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance stood outside of Wooten Hall with banners and signs protesting the senate’s vote against the samesex homecoming bill. The protesters marched into the meeting, interrupting Speaker Drew Robertson’s attempts to call the meeting to order. Charles Grand, a criminal justice senior and member of the International Socialist Organization, stated the crowd’s demands. He said he wanted the senate to re-introduce the homecoming bill during the session and pass it next week. Instead, Robertson introduced Wednesday night’s bill with emergency status, forcing the senate to vote on it immediately. School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management senator Christopher Passafiume questioned how his fellow senators handled the bill. “I don’t think it was done correctly,” Passafiume said. “I believe there should be more protection for senators, but I don’t think we went about it in a proper way,”. Robertson said he would have preferred a student vote on the bill first, but instead moved for a change to the bylaws to ensure the protections were put in place. He said allowing a student vote first would take two to three weeks. “By then, a petition could have been done, which if they followed through on what they were saying was going to happen would have removed all but five senators from the senate,” Robertson said, referring to student groups’ threats to remove senators via petition. Grand said he was disappointed by the senate’s vote, but will not give up yet. “We will definitely continue and fight as hard as we can,” he said. The SGA is a group of people elected by students to serve as a connection between administrators and students. Student Senate meetings are open to the public and are held at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesdays in Wooten Hall 322.
Prof receives $1 million grant for plant stress research BY MELISSA BOUGHTON Senior Staff Writer
A research project conducted by a UNT professor explores plant responses to stress, proving that students, faculty and staff aren’t the only ones who feel it. T he Nat ion a l S c ienc e Foundation recently bestowed two grants with a combined worth of $1 million to Jyoti Shah of the biology department. Shah received the grants to help improve the understanding of plant responses to stress. His research strives to reduce the need for expensive and dangerous pesticides by using plants’ natural defenses. “One thing that we study is looking at how plants defend themselves against insects,” Shah said.
The f irst g ra nt, wor t h $640,000, will provide money for his research during the next four years. Shah said the majority of this research explores plants responses when insects drink from them. The insects can drink for hours or days, Shah said. “We are looking at how plants control insect feeding and how they could control insect reproduction,” he said. Shah uses the plant called Arabidopsis thaliana. The plant is a model used for studying responses to various stressors, he said. “We have already found a couple of genes which are involved in this process,” Shah said. “Some of them control both the feeding behavior as well as
the reproduction.” Shah said his research has also uncovered a sugar-type gene called trehalose, which regulates a defense for plants. The second grant, worth $400,452, will assist Shah and researchers at Kansas State University and the University of Missouri—St. Louis, in research to understand how the oxidation of lipids contributes to stress responses in plants. “Jyoti does cutting edge research,” said Rebecca Dickstein of the biology department. Dickstein said she thinks Shah’s research will benefit UNT in many ways, including the undergraduates and graduates involved in research training. “Nationally and internationally, it has the ability to control insect infestations,” she said.
PHOTO BY MELISSA BOUGHTON/PHOTOGRAPHER
Jyoti Shah of the biology department is conducting research that strives to reduce the need for expensive and dangerous pesticides by utilizing plants natural defenses.