Patriot Weekly

(Photo by James Hescock) Below is a copy of my letter to The University of Texas Board of Regents which I provided as comments to today's Board meeting. In my letter, I ask the Board to take three actions: 1) Hold administrators accountable for disclosing conflicts of interests when discussing student interests 2) Tie the student newspaper’s fee appropriation to coverage of essential student issues, and 3) Start measuring intercollegiate athletics program’s impact on new student applications and enrollment. I explain more in my letter below.  Take a look. ... Office of the Board of Regents The University of Texas System 210 West 7th Street Austin, TX 78701 August 21, 2024 Re: UT-Tyler’s Annual Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 Dear Board of Regents: Greetings. I publish an independent newsletter for UT-Tyler students called Patriot Weekly . I am not affiliated with the University. This spring, UT-Tyler administrators proposed, and student government supported, an incr...

  (''Court Gavel - Judge's Gavel - Courtroom'' by wp paarz via Flickr)   Now that the reader understands that the most effective way to change campus policy is to go through his community’s governing body, then the next step for him is to know what the University’s current policies are. This brings us to discuss both The University's Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) and Student Affairs’ Manual of Policies & Procedures (MOPP). Everyone should know HOP and MOPP in order to maximize their influence on campus. By knowing where the University’s commitments lie, an advocate can gain legitimacy to his on-campus actions and thereby maximize his influence on-campus by aligning with the institution’s commitments as much as possible. As a result, when he aligns himself with the University’s commitments (whatever they may be), he can win institutional support for his actions (or at least, he should). This maximizes his influence on-campus because he know has ins...

(Source: via Flickr) In this article, I will introduce how each stakeholder group’s governing body represents its community to the university’s governing board. At the end of this article, the reader will understand in practical terms how a governing body actually speaks to the board for its respective community and, ultimately what a governing body must do to garner the board’s intervention. Every student may be able to win the governing board’s support if he understands the two mechanisms by which a stakeholder group’s government communicates itself to the governing board: an official opinion statement and a parliamentary resolution. I say “may” because ultimately how the board responds to is finally up to the board. Advocates cannot control another party. However, if one will understand how the board responds to stakeholder groups’ communication, then he can influence this process to win the board’s support for his cause. So let us examine the two means by which a stakehold...