New student government officials announced

Carlota Pulgar News Reporter

Polls for Student Government elections closed at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28, and with a total of 287 votes cast in the election, the president-elect Kiersten Florence, vice president-elect Shaelyn Jaynes and the five elected senators at large were chosen to serve and represent the student body of almost 38,000 for the 2023-2024 school year.

Less than 1% of the student body voted in the election. Diego Vila Peña, a psychology senior, said he did not know about the elections and that more can be done to increase involvement in Student Government elections.

"I feel like they should definitely do a better job of talking about it," Vila Peña said. "Making sure more people are involved, they’re representing us, but we’re not participating."

Jonas Tuttle, a computer science freshman, said more involvement in elections can help students feel more represented.

"I feel like if more people knew about it, they could have more say in it, you know, not just the results," Tuttle said. "It would feel like the individual would have more representation themselves for everything."

According to Kathryn Weiser, assistant dean of students and co-adviser of Student Government, it is important for the student body to engage with Student Government

"I think it's very important because they are the official voice of the student," Weiser said. "If students are wanting something, or needing something, that's why they should go to engage with student government."

The influence and power of the president and vice president go beyond the parameters of the university to the Board of Regents.

"The president or the vice president go to the Board of Regents meetings," Weiser said. "Each of our Texas State University systems schools have a student advisory board, where they talk about what core concerns and issues that all of the institutions are dealing with. It's very important not only here at Texas State, but beyond because then they can get more support from the Board of Regents."

Tuttle said there can be more of a presence on campus by the Student Government to help enact the

From Front Community

change that the student body wants.

"If they had more presence on campus, me and other people would really know about what's going on and so we would have more of an opportunity to talk to them and ask for change," Tuttle said. "If they're just kind of doing their own thing, in a separate room, even though they represent the people sometimes they can't get the full scope of what the people want without being you know, involved with things."

Student Government Election Spring 2023 Results

President

Kiersten Florence Kiersten Florence

Vice President

Shaelyn Jaynes Shaelyn Jaynes

Ian Plaisance Ian Plaisance Senators

Aisha Shoniwa Aisha Shoniwa

Donavan Brown Donavan Brown

Michael Grubbs Michael Grubbs

Ashley Waters Ashley Waters

Votes: 259

Votes: 258

Votes: 78

Votes: 137

Votes: 126

Votes: 115

Votes: 159

Vila Peña said that the current president, Malik Johnson, has done a good job of having a presence within the community and that the effort he has put into getting to know the community has been effective.

"Our current president, he's more involved, you see him everywhere," Vila Peña said. "Social media only gets you so far, and like a table on the Quad can only get so far. Being out in the community, that's how you get to know people, and that's how people get to know you, too."

According to Weiser, one of the goals the new group of electees has is to increase engagement within the student body and Student Government.

They plan on rewriting the organization's constitution and codes to make it easier for the student body to understand how the Student Government actually works. procedure and that the only reason he shot Josh was that he had no other choice then I think we would have seen that video immediately," Kamp said.

"One of the other goals they have is to rewrite their governing document. That will also help with engagement," Weiser said. "Those governing documents are so long and convoluted. So hopefully, we're going to make those better to make them easier to read and navigate."

President-elect Florence currently serves as the student body vice president, and she hopes to promote another initiative for physical and mental health through social activities and through this initiative to form an exploratory committee.

"We also have a desire to continue the promotion and access to new and existing resources for mental and physical health, along with developing social activities that allow for meeting new people which enables for the development of new personal friendships," Florence said in a statement.

Florence and her team want to achieve this by raising engagement and promoting the student body's school spirit at Texas State athletic events.

"A healthy and connected community provides an opportunity to lift up individual students for positive recognition that may be doing great things that the majority may not know about under ordinary circumstances," Florence said in a statement.

During the transition from vice president to president, Florence hopes to set up committees that can help address the grievances and concerns of the student body.

"I know that a lot of students have experience and great insight that can be of tremendous value and would like to contribute their ideas and solutions that will benefit students and improve campus life," Florence said in a statement. "Students can take part in making improvements for students and life on campus."

Florence is hopeful for what stepping into this role has in store.

"I am hopeful that together as Bobcats we can all be a small part in becoming participants for a greater purpose than only ourselves for the benefit of all Bobcats. It is my goal to serve the student body to the best of my ability while putting myself into the shoes of others to represent all students and the interests of students," Florence said in a statement.

The formal inauguration will be from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11.

Freeman said that upon speaking out about Joshua's story, they realized that there were many problems with the Hays County jail system that they also wish to bring awareness to.

"I've known family members and heard stories about bad run-ins with Hays County Jail," Freeman said. "I have heard about mistreatment."

Cyrus Grey, a Hays County resident, had been in contact with Garcia during his incarceration in 2018. He said that Garcia was aggressive with him on multiple occasions.

Adrian said that she hopes for Texas State students to learn about her brother and get involved.

"I would just like for Josh's story to be shared," Adrian said. "I want the students to be aware of what's happening in the community where they're at."

Besides that, Reyes has shown dedication to the San Marcos community through her membership in the Texas City Management Association (TCMA) and International City/ County Management (ICMA). She was also an officer for Hays County Dispute Resolution Center, Community Action and the Leadership San Marcos Alumni Association.

Hughson said she believes in Reyes’ capabilities as city manager since she has known her since she was a college student and they worked together at Leadership San Marcos.

"I know her to be incredibly smart, compassionate, capable and educated in the ways of city government," Hughson said. “She cares about our community and has the heart and ability to lead us all."

Cyndy Hurtado, Gov. Greg Abbott’s representative, officially recognized Reyes as the City Manager of San Marcos and congratulated her on the new position.

As Reyes takes on the role of San Marcos’ city manager, she also takes on the issues accompanying the city. Among them is transportation infrastructure, lack of community engagement and protection of natural resources.

One of the biggest issues San Marcos is facing is the lack of affordable housing, specifically for Texas State students. Reyes believes the solution to the problem is to continue the effective communication and coordination between the city and the university.

"I think it’s just important to our planning processes that we really collaborate with the university and we do, with our master plans, to understand what that projection looks like so we can plan appropriately," Reyes said. "So I think communication and collaboration is the biggest thing with Texas State."

Christi Shannon, a San Marcos resident, said she believes Reyes will make a good city manager because she is approachable and cares about the people of the city beyond her professional qualifications.

"She radiates positivity and is optimistic about how things could actually be in the city and not just from a business point of view but really from a people point of view," Shannon said. "She’s a really big people person."

Patra Duran, a San Marcos resident, said Reyes is someone who takes the necessary actions to fix problems and hopes she will unify the people of the city.

"Already as an interim city manager, [Reyes] has done some really great things for how things operate and how we communicate as a city," Duran said. "We’ve seen some of her good changes that have really improved communication and boosted morale."

At the ceremony, Reyes recognized her parents for believing in her, raising her on good morals and values and teaching her to always work hard to achieve her goals.

"[My parents] have always instilled in me the hard work that it takes to really make sure I follow the dream, always, and just that hard work really pays off," Reyes said. "Being a good person and trying to treat people with compassion, dignity and respect and to never forget where you came from because that is very very important, and as you all know [San Marcos] is where I come from."

San Marcos City Council meets every first and third of each month at 6 p.m. To access the agenda, go to the Agenda Center on the San Marcos website.

"Garcia had me moved into a tank once that he knew, at the time, had a gang of people that jumped Black people," Grey said. "After I was jumped by the gang, they moved me back into the tank I was in and put me in lockdown."

Grey said that he didn't receive medical care until later that night. Upon hearing about Joshua's death, Grey said that it came as no surprise that Garcia was involved.

"I wasn't surprised at who did it," Grey said. "Some of the guards in there go to work in jail because they have no control over their lives so this is an opportunity to have control over somebody."

Kamp said that she and other members of Mano Amiga have been working on getting public attention to the cause.

"If officer Garcia had followed

According to Freeman, Wright's parents met with the county to discuss the video's release to the family privately.

"His mom sounded like she felt pretty good about that meeting," Freeman said. "She believes that the right thing will happen."

Adrian described her brother as "full of life" and said that he always stood up for what he believed in. She said that he was always an advocate for the underdog.

"Josh has a 13-year-old daughter that he loved very much," Adrian said. "And now we're having conversations and answering questions for her as to why her daddy's not here anymore."

She said that they are a close family and continue to rely on their faith to pray for peace in the situation.

"His daughter pushes us to keep seeking those answers," Adrian said. "We got to be able to tell her what happened to her daddy."

Opinions in The University Star are not necessarily those of our entire publication, Texas State University’s administration, Board of Regents, School of Journalism and Mass Communication or Student Publications Board.

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