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April, 2012
Issue 100, Volume 77
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Senate begins 2012 legislative session President calls for reform of internal governing documents Joshua Mann
THE DAILY COUGAR No new legislation was introduced when the 49th Student Government Association senate held its first meeting Wednesday. Instead, the senators in attendance were sworn in, and short speeches were given by several members of SGA. “We’ve been through a lot this year, and we’re not the only ones; UT disqualified one
of their presidential candidates, LSU just recently disqualified an entire party from campaigning,” said Chief Justice Taylor Kilroy. “This is your opportunity to band together and be in SGA. Forget the parties, forget who you ran against, forget all that nonsense. Because your job right now is to work for students.” SGA President Cedric Bandoh said he wants to set up a task force to reform the SGA election code, judicial code, bylaws and constitution. “I think a lot of the issues that arose during the elections came because those
This is your opportunity to band together and be in SGA. Forget the parties, forget who you ran against, forget all that nonsense. Because your job right now is to work for students.” Taylor Kilroy, on putting aside the election season controversy documents were very ambiguous, had a lot of loopholes, had a lot of contradictions in them,” Bandoh said.
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TEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK
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Cougars discuss public school sex education
Students promote vehicle for advertising competition Cougar Concepts will host a promotional event for Honda’s new vehicle, the 2012 Honda Civic Coupe, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday in front of the University Center. UH is one of 20 schools chosen to participate in the Honda Civic Coupe Marketing Competition. Free food and beverages will be available, and promotional items will be handed out. Honda has provided Cougar Concept with a $3,000 budget to carry out their advertising campaign plans. — Cougar News Services
Texas Freedom Network shows film, hosts talk
Annette Santos
THE DAILY COUGAR
LECTURE
Professor to discuss family, health, human values Alexandra Stern, history of medicine professor at the University of Michigan, will give the John P. McGovern endowed lecture in Family, Health and Human Values at 7 p.m. Monday in the Rockwell Pavilion. “Her work investigates how health policy decisions impact individuals and families while exploring the ethical questions underlying those policies,” said Catherine Patterso, associate dean of graduate studies in a UH press release.“As medicine rapidly pushes the boundaries of what is possible, it prompts new questions about the social and ethical implications of medical advancements.” The event is free and open to the public. To rsvp, email pmnguyen@ central.uh.edu. For more information, call (713) 743-3000. — Cougar News Services
“To move forward and be effective in the things we do, I think it’s important to improve the documents that we use to govern ourselves internally.” Former SGA President Michael Harding said he decided to rescind his veto of the Good Samaritan Act, which was passed in the final meeting of the 48th senate two weeks ago, but he declined to comment on why. Seventeen members were initially in attendance, but several more filtered in as the meeting progressed.
Solar sausage grill makes use of Texas sunlight
S
hawn Liao, a research scientist working at the Institute for Nano-energy in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, grilled food using solar power Wednesday in front of Agnes Arnold Hall. | Emily Chambers/The Daily Cougar
Texas Freedom Network Student Chapter focused on advocacy for HISD schools while showing “Let’s Talk About Sex,” a documentary on how American attitudes towards sex affect teens and holding an open-floor discussion Tuesday in the University Center Spindle Top Room. “HISD is doing the right thing, heading in the right direction,” said James Lee, president of TFNSC, “which is to teach students about protecting themselves, but they could go a little further. What we hope HISD to do is teach comprehensive sex education.” There are three types of sexual education programs — abstinence until marriage, abstinence plus and comprehensive plus. Currently, HISD is teaching abstinence plus. “With abstinence plus they don’t really show you or tell you all the different methods,” Lee said. “They just say there are methods out there, but you aren’t physically shown a condom. You aren’t shown the pill; they don’t tell you how often you need to take the pill; they don’t tell you that there are other things out there like IUDs or different means of birth control.” With abstinence until marriage education, sex is not open for discussion, Lee said. Abstinence
plus goes one step further by teaching students about pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Comprehensive plus bypasses abstinence education and focuses on prevention education that includes STDs, HIV/AIDs education, how to properly use a condom and explores different kinds of birth control available. “I feel strongly that there should be more funding for contraceptives and for sex education,” said Magdieo Martine, an accounting graduate student. “I’m not a big proponent for abstinence only sex education. That doesn’t work, never does, because people are human and they love sex.” According to “Let’s Talk About Sex,” 70 percent of American teens have had sex. Of those, 50 percent of their parents believe they are still virgins. Lee said the solution lies in outreach programs like the School Health Advisory Council, legislatively mandated volunteer groups that each school district has. SHACs are composed of both student and parent volunteers that visit local schools, review education materials and meet before the school board to discuss possible adjustments to the materials. “Basically the SHAC makes recommendations to the school district. The School Board of Trustees then can either choose to listen to or ignore the recommendations of the SHAC,” said Texas Freedom SEX continues on page 3