From Staff reports
Oklahoma Student Government Association’s 31st Congress, held March 30-31, proved to be an overall positive experience for many of Southeastern’s student senators.
One freshman student, Senator Kevin Anastasio said, “Spring Congress was a much more enjoyable experience than I originally expected.”
A statewide organization comprised of Oklahoma higher education schools approved by the Board of Regents, OSGA is intended to serve Oklahoma by acting as a unified voice of its students in state politics.
Each semester, a congress is held at which delegates from these schools can bring forth legislation to be heard and voted on by the organization.
Anastasio added, “Being able to participate in a fully functional meeting at state level that can have a strong effect on college campuses across the state is an experience that not many can say they have had or will have.”
Twelve of Southeastern’s student senators attended this meeting as representatives: Anastasio, Joseph Badan, Cody Chapman, Brandon Connors, Preston Cosper, Stephen Hightower, Jerreck McWilliams, Allison Roberts, Garrett Shoemake, Matthew Sitton, Blake Tomlinson and Sadie Woodruff.
Badan, Connors and Roberts were the three voting delegates from Southeastern.
The first and second sessions of Congress were held on Saturday while Friday was reserved for registration, welcome and committee meetings held on Oklahoma City University’s campus.
The main course of the scheduled events took place on Saturday when several pieces of legislation were brought before the body of student representatives.
The group voted on three bills before voting on three resolutions. Elections for positions within OSGA were then held.
Resolutions make no changes to current legislation and do not dictate funding. Most often, they state official opinions or begin a course of action.
Bills, unlike resolutions, deal directly with amending the organization’s constitution or bylaws and often with allocating money for specific purposes.
The first resolution, authored by Southeastern Senator Angelo Ndilou, who was unable to attend, and McWilliams, who presented it, addressed a need for incentives and funding opportunities for international students studying at Oklahoma schools.
This legislation prompted some of what Sitton described as “passionate, but incredibly respectful” as well as “some of the best debate that I have ever heard in that organization.”
The side opposing the resolution argued that there are not enough workers in Oklahoma, so the state should not fund students who do not intend to stay here.
It was also mentioned that many Oklahomans would not want their tax dollars or in-state scholarship funding to be tapped into for this purpose.
The supporters of the resolution countered that the request is not for state lawmakers to give handouts to international students but for them to simply consider the issue and think of ideas for funding and incentives.
It was added that it is among Oklahoma’s goals to become a leader in national and international politics and that this resolution could serve as the starting point.
After the debate, the resolution passed.
Cosper expressed his hopes for the future of that issue: “Hopefully we will start seeing some additional funds to those students who have traveled so far to attend classes at one of our Oklahoma universities.”
“That resolution is going to help international students across the state, and I am so glad people are recognizing the importance of having international students in the state of Oklahoma,” shared resolution author Ndilou, an international student from Gabon.
The second resolution heard was authored and presented by Shoemake, who described his experience as “brutal” and said that he “got torn apart for authoring controversial legislation.”
This was “A Resolution Concerning the Allowance of Concealed Carry on College Campuses” and resolved to support legislation allowing concealed carry by students, faculty and staff on college campuses.
Intense debate was again sparked within Congress.
Among the arguments presented in favor of the resolution was the point that police are a reactionary force, whereas if students and faculty were allowed concealed carry rights, they could serve as a preventative force by eliminating threats before police could arrive.
Those against the legislation argued that regardless of the amount of training people undergo to receive concealed carry permits, it is unlikely that most would be prepared to respond in a real crisis.
The opposition also argued that allowing concealed carry on college campuses could create confusion among police and defensive students or faculty who respond to threats and that this confusion could lead to unnecessary injury or death.
When it came to a vote, the resolution failed.
Badan presented the third resolution—a piece of legislation in direct opposition to Shoemake’s.
The text of the resolution reads that the OSGA “encourages the state legislature to continue to support the prohibition of guns on higher education campuses.” Essentially, this resolution proposed that the official opinion of OSGA be opposed to guns on campus.
Badan said that the atmosphere being more relaxed than anticipated made the process of presenting his first legislation easier. When voted on, the third resolution passed, and Shoemake said, “I was very proud of (Badan).”
The elections for positions within OSGA and the Student Advisory Board resulted in several of our school’s Senators being elected to various positions.
Connors was elected Southeast regional director, Badan was elected OSGA research director, Woodruff was elected OSGA secretary and Sitton was elected to the Student Advisory Board.
The second, however, did not.
This bill proposed to lessen the number of regions in the state, thus increasing the number of schools in each region.
The bill proposed to consolidate the regions of Oklahoma institutions of higher learning.
A third bill passed.
Its purpose as written is to “recruit and hire a Director of Operations to perform duties as assigned by the Board of Directors.” The Director of Operations’ duties will include financial and technology support, according to the bill.
Though the 31st Congress was successful in execution, Sitton said it was planned differently than most Spring Congresses due to changes within OSGA’s executive positions.
At the beginning of spring, the 2011-2012 elected OSGA president resigned.
Sitton, having been the vice president, filled the newly vacant position, and C.J. Cavin of Oklahoma State University was appointed as vice president.
Because the vice president along with a congress host from the hosting institution are usually in charge of planning Spring Congress, the weekend had to be pushed back from its original starting date of March 2, Sitton explained.
He also said that he believed the change of date was the primary cause of this being the smallest of the Spring Congresses he had attended.
The evening prior, all attending representatives of various schools were treated to dinner and a movie in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown neighborhood of shops and restaurants.
Aside from his duties as OSGA President, Sitton said Friday evening’s social events were the most enjoyable part of the trip.