Volume 59, Issue 11  - October 30, 2006

Early closing of SET-B discussed at SGA meeting
By Michell Godinez
Staff Writer

School of Education Senator Celeste Dela-Garza spoke out at Thursday’s Student Government Association meeting after receiving student complaints that doors on campus are being locked early.

Dela-Garza said the side doors of SET-B were locked, along with the sliding doors, making it difficult for those who are handicapped to access the building.

“The sliding door … has not been working for quite some time and it’s the only door in the building available for handicap accessibility. And the other sliding door at night is locked also … so it’s not accommodating the handicapped students,” Dela-Garza said.

The senator said she witnessed a female guard closing a door at SET-B at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday and called Campus Police to inquire about what time the doors should be locked. She was told that the campus secures buildings at 10 p.m.

Dela-Garza spoke with Sgt. Jaime Richeson on Thursday about the situation and he explained to her that the Campus Police Department is short-staffed and will speak with his guards to resolve the problem.

In an interview with The Collegian, Richeson said the problem stems from the fact that one of the guards who works the closing shift called to say he was unable to go to work.

“I think what happened was that one of the guards called in unable … to come in and we were assisting [with] closing at 10 o’clock,” he said.

According to Richeson, the guards begin securing the buildings around 10 p.m. because most classes are over and only have one hour to secure the campus because the shift ends at 11. 

Asked if the department was understaffed, Richeson said that they have lost some officers but have made some in-house transfers and will be back to the way they were when three cadets return from the academy. They also have two guards in training.

“I think it was just a communication issue because … that day … we only had one guard and I had the officers assist in securing and I said, ‘Well, just get all the doors and check the classrooms that are not being used,’” Richeson said. “It should be solved; it shouldn’t be any problem. I’ll just verify with the guards again to make sure that they don’t start securing any of the doors until 10 o’clock.”

School of Business Senator Matthew Kendall reported that the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is in talks to accredit the School of Business.  He said that only 15 percent of business schools in the world are accredited by this program. 

“According to the schedule, by Dec. 15, the school will enter the pre-accreditation stage and that’s step two of a four-step process,” Kendall said. “And the plan is to receive full accreditation within five years and initial accreditation, which is different than full accreditation, within the next two years.”

In other business, the SGA unanimously voted to help fund Stop-N-Go, an event scheduled to be held on Nov. 16 at the Student Union Lawn, to help promote networking among UTB/TSC students.

The SGA will grant the event $400 to help co-sponsor the event along with the LAMP, STING Success and Student Life departments.

As part of the event students are being asked to wear different colored shirts to signal their relationship status: red signifying in a relationship, yellow for dating or “talking” to someone and green for single.  

The group also approved a motion by School of Business Senator Joe Lee Rubio to support Resacathon, a free event to be held Nov. 11, which will feature a 5K run/walk, kayaking on the resaca, healthy food sampling and live entertainment.

Rubio’s motion to support Let’s Clean Up Brownsville on Nov. 18 also passed. Senator at Large Hector O. Zamarripa abstained.

Members absent from Thursday’s meeting were School of Health Sciences Senator Oscar Lee Garza and Senators at Large Gus Salinas and Angela Basaldua.