THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2023 STUDENT MEDIA
Freshman president elected Duncan Poling looks to increase first-year involvement on campus By Mia Putnam @MiaBatt25
Student Government Association criticizes city ordinance By Ayden Castillo @ayeitsayden_ College Station’s “no more than four” ordinance has been restricting more than four unrelated individuals from living in a single-family household since 1940. For weeks, Texas A&M’s Student Government Association, or SGA, Executive Cabinet and Student Senate have been work-
ing to inform students about the rule while also speaking with city officials to reform it. This comes after 180 violations were reported in 2022, compared to 13 in 2021. “The City has limited the number of unrelated persons who are permitted to reside as a single-housekeeping unit in a residential district to a maximum of four since the adoption of its first zoning ordinance in 1940,” College Station’s website reads. On Wednesday, Oct. 4, Former-Speaker of the Student Senate Andrew Applewhite called a special session to discuss SGA’s plans to advocate for the student body. At the meeting,
three speakers addressed the senate and discussed the economic impact of this ordinance and how the student body should go about advocating against the policy. Economics professor Jonathan Meer started by breaking down the economic effects the ordinance will have on the housing market if strict enforcement of the ordinance continues. “If you reduce occupancy, there will be the same number of people looking for housing, and there will be fewer available housing slots,” Meer said. “Something’s gotta give, either some people will end up without housing and there are more people looking for housing
than there are housing slots, or prices rise until some people drop out of the market and find some alternative way of finding shelter.” Meer said reducing the supply of houses in Bryan-College Station would increase prices. “When we reduce supply by taking units off of the market, what we should expect is fewer units being rented at a higher price — that is, fewer units with more rent,” Meer said. “One way that people may adapt to these higher prices is by living further away, which increases the amount of traffic you might exORDINANCE ON PG. A3
Graphic by Nikhil Vadi
Yearbook welcomes new editor in chief Emily Escebedo works to revitalize program, provide fresh start By Abby Jarrett @AbbyJarrett The Aggieland Yearbook has turned a new page in leadership with hospitality, hotel management and tourism sophomore Emily Escobedo taking her place as editor-in-chief. With over 130 years of history, the Aggieland Yearbook is one of the longest standing traditions in Texas A&M’s history, Spencer O’Daniel, the Student Media adviser, said. Covering everything from senior class portraits to monumentous sporting events, the yearbook includes all things relating to the A&M school year. With a new staff and new editor-in-chief, or EIC, HEAT ON PG. A3
The Aggieland is looking to rebuild from their struggles in the past, Megan Williams, former Aggieland EIC and anthropology junior, said. Williams said she is looking forward to a fresh start for the team. “We didn’t have an adviser during the year that I was EIC,” Williams said. “It was very stressful. It was quite a challenge to navigate all of the aspects of building a book with no guidance. I’ve been doing this since high school, but I’ve never had to do everything on my own. It was quite an adventure.” With more support from O’Daniel and Escobedo taking her place as EIC, The Aggieland is ready for a new chapter, Williams said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what she can do with a staff,” Williams said. “I didn’t have a staff. I built the whole book by myself, so I’m really excited to see where she takes the book. The book has good bones, but to take it to the next level in terms of content and
things we’ve covered I think she’s going to bring it to the next level.” O’Daniel said from the start, Escobedo was the clear choice for the new EIC. “I am excited about her energy,” O’Daniel said. “I know I have really high expectations of what I want to do to rebuild this staff and it feels like she believes in that vision and is committed to putting in the time from now until the end of the book.” Escobedo said high school was when she was first introduced to working on a yearbook. She found her passion in being able to write, take photos and design pages all in one place. By her senior year, Escobedo was editor-in-chief. While she is excited about the semester and the chance to get the yearbook off the ground, the change of pace and different structure is something she is still learning how to manage, Escobedo said.
“It’s such a different experience than running a yearbook that was 100 pages, compared to this yearbook which is anywhere between 300 to 400 pages,” Escobedo said. “There are 70,000 kids on this campus. It’s a lot to cover. It’s very intimidating. I’m excited to create these new relationships and hopefully get comfortable with the staff and building relationships.” With the bones of the Aggieland standing strong from what Williams created, Escobedo said her main focus right now is establishing connections with the new staff. “There are so many people that seem really excited about this and dedicated, and we haven’t even started anything yet,” Escobedo said. “Just seeing their attitudes about it was really exciting. Obviously, the yearbook is always exciting, but the staff is what we’re really focused on this semester.”
Engineering freshman Duncan Poling was elected as the freshman class president on Sept. 29 with 37.72% of the vote. He is a member of the Corps of Cadets, enjoys the outdoors and has been a College Station resident his entire life. Poling said his Aggie story started with his grandfather back in 1986. “My dad was an Aggie, Class of [19]90,” Poling said. “His dad was an Aggie, Class of [1969] and was in the band. My dad was also in the Corps, and I have lived in College Station my whole life, right on Dexter Drive. It’s only a 10-minute walk from where I live on campus now.” Inspired by his grandfather and father’s legacies at Texas A&M, Poling said being an Aggie was in his blood. “I have lived in the shadow of Aggieland my whole life,” Poling said. “It has been awesome [and] the culture that A&M brings to this town is amazing. I have had some really cool college students in my life before I came to A&M, so I really fell in love with the culture here and the Aggie family that it fosters.” Poling said he wanted to run for freshman class president because he grew up loving Aggieland and wanted to serve it in a new way. “My dad is so passionate about A&M, and he has introduced me to all of its culture from a young age,” Poling said. “I have grown quite an understanding of what it means to be an Aggie and about what makes this university great. I am really passionate about keeping those positive aspects of the Aggie culture going and improving the Aggie experience that I have always heard of growing up.” After launching his campaign, Poling said he focused on three initiatives that were important to his platform: a commitment to core values, more opportunities for freshmen and a stronger connection between students and Aggie culture and traditions. He said he chose these initiatives because of how important fostering a good experience for freshmen is. Creating opportunities for freshmen is an extremely important topic to him, Poling said. “I think it is sad when I see freshmen that didn’t get any opportunities to serve or find a community,” Poling said. “They only go through their freshmen year as a student with nothing else. I want to help freshmen find what their niche is at A&M and help them have the best Aggie experience that they can.” Poling said he can solve this issue by helping create a better website for freshmen to find information on clubs or activities they may want to join. “We want to make it easier to navigate different categories, interests and hobbies so they can find a place that they can fit in,” Poling said. Poling said he also wants to help improve communication between the university and incoming freshmen. “I think that there should be an increased communication from the university to incoming freshmen POLING ON PG. A3