University Star

ASG held their first meeting of the semester in the LBJ Teaching Theater — marking the only of its kind.

“It feels great to have a full senate this year,” said Tommy Luna, ASG vice president. “I am really excited that for the first time in some time we have more senate applications than we have senate seats.”

Senators sworn in during the meeting came better equipped because of Luna’s Senator Training Camp.

“I designed the Senator Training Camp to be an opportunity for all the new senators and the senate leadership to get together and get engaged in team-building and other constructive activities,” Luna said. “We taught them all they need to know about authoring legislation and the legislative process to really get involved and make their own mark on the ASG.”

A new bill that would clarify and increase the role of the senate pro-tempore was introduced and a new position called the athletic liaison was created.

“What we envision is creating a connection with the athletic department and its administrators that will facilitate meaningful communication and cooperation,” Luna said. “We want to get a better feel for what’s going on in our athletics department here at Texas State, and we feel like this connection will strengthen and grow our student athletes.”

The vote to create the office of the athletic liaisonwas passed unanimously by the senate.

Luna and Covo announced several new initiatives ASG will be focusing on this semester.

“One of the biggest upcoming events for ASG is the Tailgating Committee that is going to overhaul tailgating at Texas State,” Luna said. “We’re turning tailgating into an expansion of the ASG to really grow the tradition and make it part of the appeal of Texas State.”

Covo said there are plans to create a busing system for the downtown area.

“ASG will be looking into a safe form of alternate transportation for students downtown,” Covo said. “I want senators to discuss a safe alternate to the Downtown San Marcos area.”

ASG will be going paperless this semester. Covo said the ASG scholarships, senate, City Council liaison and intern program applications will be done online.

“In the past there have been problems with paper applications being lost and scholarships being given to the wrong people,” Covo said. “This will make our office more efficient, faster and will make it easier to deal with eligibility.”

University President Denise Trauth was a guest speaker at the event and said there was a record number of graduate students, freshmen and research expenditures.

“These items are important in becoming a top-tier university,” Trauth said. “We need more doctoral graduates in order to increase our ranking.”

The university received the final approval for the new nursing program and it will begin with 100 juniors.
Trauth said because of the university’s growth there is an additional $5 million for the budget.

“We are looking at the 2011 legislation and we are preparing for a possible even probable budget cut,” Trauth said. “We are very lucky for this growth because we are planning to use part of the $5 million for that year’s budget.”

Trauth said because of this year’s reaccreditation the university will be implementing a new program called P.A.C.E, which stands for Personalized Academic Career Exploration. P.A.C.E. will be focused on freshman career growth.

“P.A.C.E. will help lower the adviser-to-student ratio,” Trauth said. “Transfer students and upperclassmen will feel the effect of the new program because more services will be free.”

Luna swore in ASG co-chairs Colter Ray, Rebecca Flores, Brandon Guerra and Matthew Posey and Ariana Varges, ASG Pro-Tempore. Covo swore in ASG Parliamentarian Cody DeSalvo, ASG Treasurer Kyle Lamb, Michael Guzman, Student Supreme Court chief justice, and Michael Flowers, the new ASG athletic liaison

“This year is going to be really big for the senate,” Luna said. “We are getting involved on a much higher level than in the past. We will be sending senators out every week to different student organizations to really get connected with the student body and improve our relationship with the campus.”