How New Legislation Passed Will Affect Students
The six most impactful legislation passed this school year by the Senate of College Councils Writer Jessica Lenamond Designer Kellie Woodin Each academic year the Senate of College Councils passes legislation that directly affects UT Austin students to bring change to campus. The Senate consists of 22 college councils that represent the needs of students and provide student opinions on academic issues to the University's administration for implementation. But outside of students that are directly involved with Senate, many students are not aware of what legislation was recently passed and how it will affect their academic and personal experience. To help students better understand future changes to campus, this article highlights the six most impactful legislation passed this year. There are a few key steps to understanding how legislation is created and then passed, failed, or tabled in Senate and then eventually implemented into student life. First, a resolution is written when a systematic academic challenge is identified for students, and research is done to support the resolution. The Senate representative in each college’s council usually writes the resolutions, but anyone from a council, Student Government, Senate, or Graduate Student Assembly can create a resolution. If a student is not in any of these groups but still wants to present legislation, they can directly contact someone from one of these groups to work with. Once written, the legislation is presented to Senate and then to each college’s council. Once each council votes to pass, fail or table a piece, the Senate representative will take that vote back to Senate for questions and a final count of votes from the councils. Only council members in Senate can have the final vote on legislation and it passes if it reaches a majority vote. There are three types of legislation written: Joint Resolution (J.R.), Senate Resolution (S.R.), and Senate Bill (S.B.). A J.R. is a resolution in support of a change to campus signed by Senate, Student Government, or the Graduate Student Assembly. A S.R. is a resolution in support of change to campus but is only signed by Senate. A S.B. only applies to amendments to Senate’s constitution. Even after legislation passes, it still must be implemented on campus so that students can experience the benefits of the legislation. In order to implement the legislation, the writers and council must coordinate with administration and faculty to actively create the change supported in the resolution and help students as quickly as possible. If you want to become more involved in making changes that directly impact the student body, consider connecting directly with your college’s council and its Senate representative. The representative is there to find resolutions to issues that students face and can assist in writing legislation. Student Government and Senate are also always looking for students passionate about change and policy and Senate meetings are open to the public every other week during the school year. For updates on legislation passed, visit Senate’s website.
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