The Student Government Association (SGA) is the official voice of UTSA students. As stated on their website, “[SGA] is currently hard at work making sure that your concerns are voiced to the administration,” but many students are unclear as to what concerns are being voiced to the administration.
In a recent interview, Derek Trimm, President of SGA, focused on the passing of a proposal to make UTSA a wet campus. In response to qualms about the possible misuse of on-campus alcohol, Trimm says that “SGA will make sure that alcohol [is] implemented responsibly.” Trimm goes on to say, “[SGA] has been following other universities for regulations, in regard to alcohol on campus.”
With a response to the vote that decided UTSA’s future of just over 1,800 students, the positive vote seems less than definitive. When presented with this statistic Trimm said “It’s hard to be known everywhere on campus.” He goes on to say that “[SGA has] a public relations committee that is doing a lot.”
Despite the limited student involvement in SGA elections, most students interviewed seem to view the change to a wet campus as a sound decision. Joseph Brown, a junior psychology student, sees the change to a wet campus as an obvious choice. He says, “I am for UTSA being a wet campus. I mean, why not?”
Matt Benavides, an applied statistics graduate student, agrees, stating that, “UT Austin has it, so that would be fine for us.”
Although there are a majority of pro-alcohol students, some also have qualms. Ana Kaufman, a junior in kinesiology, fears that students may over-indulge. “Who comes to school for a beer or margarita,” she questions. “[Students] should be coming to study.”
Along with the wet campus initiative, Trimm mentioned a proposal-in-progress for Greek row housing. If implemented, this initiative would provide either on or off-campus housing for fraternities and sororities to live in. Trimm states that a new committee has been put in place to investigate such a possibility.
Student opinion on a UTSA Greek row is mixed. Junior psychology major, Jacklyn Gomez, says, “that would be a good idea. We are missing that,” Chris Garcia, a biology major, also agrees “as long as they are positive,” and “not like those crazy ones you see in the movies.”
Along with SGA’s initiatives, UTSA administration also has a number of programs in the works. In addition to the numerous construction projects across campus, UTSA is less than a year away from having a full-fledged football team and continues to vie for Tier 1 status.
