Students attend TSA

By Kaleb Underwood     12/2/10 6:00pm

For the first time, a delegation of Rice students was invited to a meeting of the Texas Student Association in Austin Nov. 6. SA President Selim Sheikh, Student Life Committee Chair Ben Chou and Baker College Senator Maria Pickett comprised the delegation. TSA has brought public university student associations from across the state together since 1948, but has been inactive since the early '90s, Sheikh said.

"The purpose of the organization is primarily lobbying for students," Sheikh, a Martel College senior, said.

Several years ago, the University of Houston and the University of North Texas decided to resurrect TSA. Last summer, UH e-mailed student governments, including private ones, from all across the state to ask them to participate. The organization hopes to convene coinciding with the legislative session, Sheikh said. According to Sheikh, only two other private universities attended.

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About 39 delegates from 13 schools spent the day discussing a variety of issues before they narrowed their focus in order to select a few particular things to lobby the Texas State Legislature on when it convenes in January. The two issues decided on to be lobbied for are textbook costs and budget cuts/tuition awareness.

The delegation believes the legislature can have an impact on textbook prices by legislating a 10-day tax-free period for textbooks, Pickett, a Baker College sophomore, said. This idea was also the subject of a bill that died during the last legislative session in 2009, so it will not be unfamiliar, Chou, a Martel College sophomore, said.

For budget cuts and tuition awareness, the focus was on increased financial aid and university-based funding, according to the delegation. The Rice delegation's goal was to keep the discussion of budget cuts and tuition as general as possible in order to steer the conversation away from the abolition of Texas Equalization Grants, which are a form of financial aid for students attending private universities in Texas. Several large state universities such as University of Texas and Texas A&M University wanted to cut TEGs in order to save money, Chou said. Rice currently receives about $2 million in TEGs every year to use for student financial aid.

In order to change the subject, Chou brought up one of Rice's platform goals: green initiatives.

"It was a distraction tool, but it is also important," Chou said. "It is one of the planks of our provost's [initiatives]."

The delegation was in a relatively unique position since it represented one of only three private universities in attendance.

"We really have to look out for our university's interests since we are the only private tier one university [in Texas]," Chou said.

The TSA will convene again at the University of North Texas in January in order to finalize their platform.

"Essentially we will be outlining our arguments based on the two points we came up with at the last convention," Sheikh said.

Sheikh said Rice will also send a delegation to the upcoming Conference of Private Universities Feb. 5-6, which will be more beneficial for addressing issues relevant to Rice. Sheikh said Rice hopes to host this event in the next year or two.

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