SGA helps students navigate through hot water access issues

By Gauri Raje News Editor

On Feb. 8, two Guadalupe Hall residents met with the Student Government Association (SGA) Business Affairs committee chair, Duncan Reedyk, to discuss a hot water access issue, which further led to the identification of other issues at the residence hall.

Director of Campus Services

Lee Myers stated that the university received work orders for two separate locations in Guadalupe Hall regarding hot water access, dated March 14 and March 28.

According to Reedyk, the initial issue expressed by the two students was that hot water access would shut down from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day.

“So during that time, there was no hot water access [and] of course students being up late, working late, they take showers in the evenings and they weren’t really able to do that without hot water,” Reedyk said.

The students were directed to SGA after raising the issue with their RAs. After the issue was reported to SGA, Reedyk explained that they wanted to “hear out the two students, what their sort of side of the story was.”

“I know that [the two students] had sort of been spearheading the issue in terms of talking with other students around Guadalupe,” Reedyk said. “There [have] been other resident group chats where they were monitoring the feedback and such. So these two individuals were representing the rest of [the] student residents there. So, of course, we wanted to hear out their complaints, hear what their sort of experiences were, things that they were noticing.”

As the Business Affairs chair, Reedyk works closely with uni- versity departments, including housing, campus services and facilities. Following the meeting with students to understand the issue, Reedyk then reached out to Myers to further discuss the issue.

Since then, the university has been in contact with the concerned students and SGA as they work to address the issues.

However, as Reedyk explained, while fixing the initial issue, the university also identified other issues.

“It’s actually been a little bit complicated, I think, for the maintenance side of things,” Reedyk said. “Guadalupe is a brand new building of course.

It’s one of the LEED Certified buildings here, right, so there’s a lot of sustainability projects and sensors throughout the building. Initially, they were looking at what they thought was one fix — it was a malfunctioning sensor — and that led them to find a couple [of] other things. As they would try and adjust one issue, they would then look and find something else.”

So far, all the things that have been done are temporary fixes while the university waits for parts on backorder.

At the time of the interview, Reedyk had last been updated on March 23, when the university stated that a second company had been contacted to evaluate the Guadalupe Hall building and make sure the right issues were being addressed.

The Paisano contacted the university for further clarification about the issue and its resolution. Regarding the aforementioned work orders concerning hot water, Myers stated that “all monitoring shows the system is currently working.” Myers also stated that the university has hired two contractors to determine the cause of this concern.

By Mason Hickok Editor-in-Chief

After several weeks of public testimony and debate, the Texas Senate has passed Senate Bills (SB) 17 and 18, which will affect diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and tenure, respectively.

Last week, SB 17 passed in the Senate on a vote of 19-12.

Sen. Brandon Creighton, RConroe, proposed the bill. Language in the bill would “prohibit public higher education institutions across the state from maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices or requiring DEI statements in admissions or hiring,” according to the Austin American-Statesman. UTSA’s Office of Inclusive Excellence would be affected should SB 17 pass.

While the language around these bills has been established, the university will not be commenting until the legislation is finalized.

“We are going to wait until the final legislation is adopted before commenting,” Joe Izbrand, UTSA’s chief communications officer, said. “It wouldn’t be productive to speculate about possible outcomes.”

According to The Texas Tribune, state funds would be lost for a year if a university is found to be violating the law. Additionally, the proposed legislation would allow students and employees to sue a university if participation in DEI training is forced.

“We do not require or provide ‘DEI training,’” Izbrand clarified. “We do offer optional training resources related to inclusive excellence.”

Speaking on behalf of himself, Associate Professor of History and COLFA Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Dr. Omar Valerio-Jimenez said that faculty have been receiving updates from the administration regarding the bills.

Diversity and inclusion are models valued at UTSA, per the university’s Inclusivity statement. While Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touts DEI practices and initiatives as “woke policies,” faculty who work with these offices argue that is far from the truth.

“The faculty [and] the administration promotes diversity and thinks that is our strength; that [diversity] helps us recruit students and do our research,” Valerio-Jimenez said. “We don’t think our DEI initiatives exclude anybody.”

SB 16, which Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, proposed, passed on a vote of 18-12. The language in the bill would prevent professors from compelling students to adopt or uphold certain beliefs. Valerio-Jimenez, like most professors, encourages student engagement with course material.

“Our job is to encourage discussion [and] critical analysis,” Valerio-Jimenez said. “We do choose what readings we assign,

[but] that is part of our academic freedom. We ask students to cite readings; we don’t tell them they have to believe what the reading says.”

SB 18, also proposed by Sen. Creighton, passed in the Senate on a vote of 18-11. The bill deals with tenure. While the bill now heads to the House of Representatives, certain lawmakers there are not keen on dissolving tenure completely — namely House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. Valerio-Jimenez believes there would be a “devastating impact on universities in Texas” should SB 18 pass. Faculty members who already hold tenure will not be affected.

“If that were to pass, and somehow tenure and academic freedom can be restricted, I think you would have a devastating impact on universities in Texas,” Valerio-Jimenez said.

The American Association of University Professors states the main purpose of tenure is “to safeguard academic freedom, which is necessary for all who teach and conduct research in higher education.”

“When faculty members can lose their positions because of their speech, publications or research findings, they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities to advance and transmit knowledge,” the Association further states.

All three bills will now undergo deliberation in the House. The 88th Legislative session ends on May 29.