Speaker of the Senate Alexander Hennel commenced the fourth Student Government Association general meeting last Thursday. Delayed elections, a student’s accessibility concerns and the university’s budget were discussed.
According to the SGA’s Constitution and By-Laws, the student organization is supposed to hold its campus-wide elections before spring break. Hennel clarified during the meeting that the SGA did not hold elections before spring break, as required by their constitution.
Applications for the 2026-2027 SGA positions will open March 23 at 10 a.m. and will close on April 9 at 11:59 p.m. Campus-wide voting will occur on April 20, and on the following Wednesday, April 23, an inauguration will take place.
Hennel presented an open forum for students to directly ask questions to the SGA. Junior graduate student Terrence Bruff, who has cerebral palsy, directed his question to Financial Affairs officials and the SGA regarding accessibility on campus.
“I’ve noticed a lot of issues that I didn’t expect when I became a student, things like when the university rolled out their partnership with VIA, they did not include VIAtrans for disabled students and faculty,” Bruff said.
Bruff then further explained that it took a year for him to obtain his VIAtrans accessibility pass. As cited on UT San Antonio’s website, “riders with disabilities can apply for VIAtrans curb-to-curb service.”
The graduate student detailed more instances of how he has dealt with accessibility obstacles due to building closures at night on campus.
“It’s not acceptable to roll out auxiliary services or any type of service without even considering the needs of people with disabilities,” Bruff stated. “It’s not acceptable to lock the Main Building when it literally has a sign that says ADA accessible path.”
Hennel responded to Bruff, stating that he understands his grievances.
“I appreciate you being here, and I know that that’s an issue that other students are facing,” Hennel said.
Vice President for Financial Affairs Sheri Hardison and Chief Financial Officer and Interim Assistant Vice President for Budget and Financial Planning Paula Pierson presented an analysis on UT San Antonio’s budget.
Hardison explained that starting four to five years ago, she and her colleague began attending the SGA meetings to present the university’s itemized budget.
“We started coming annually to SGA just to present some financial information about the budget of the university, how we spend our money, how we ended the last year, so you can have some sense of what’s going on financially at the university,” Hardison stated.
The university budget’s total operating revenue for Fiscal Year 2025 was $839 million, and FY26 came out to be $780 million. Total expenses resulted in $805 million for FY25, and $753 million for FY26. Tuition and fees amounted to $248,370,312. Hardison explained how tuition cannot be used for auxiliary activities, athletics, housing or the Student Union.
Clarifying the SGA’s funding, Hennel explained that the SGA is funded through student fees.
“SGA is not funded by an explicit fee,” Hennel said. “We don’t have our own personal fee. It’s all wrapped into the student fees. So, the student services fee, a portion of that gets allocated out to us.”
Further demonstrating the general highlights, Hardison detailed the financial growth-real estate with UT San Antonio’s expansion toward One Riverwalk Place, Kallison block and the new location of the Institute of Texan Cultures.
When asked how the SGA is involved in the university’s budget expenses, Hardison described that the SGA is not part of the budget development process and that the budget detail is a fast paced process.
“I wouldn’t say it’s part of the budget development process,” Hardison said. “There’s rarely a lot of new discretionary money to allocate. This year, I don’t think we’re gonna have any, so we’re mainly using any new revenue to keep up with regular expenses.
“The budget process also moves very quickly. We kind of are making final decisions in the summer. That’s the timeline.”
The SGA will hold a meeting this Thursday at the H-E-B Student Union Travis/Harris room, located at 2.202 and 2.212.
