Representation was the big issue at the last Student Senate town hall meeting of the semester.
Many of the speakers argued that student athletes, transfer students and LGBT students need more representation in Student Senate because each group has special issues that need to be addressed.
A handful of students and senators attended the town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon in the Hughes-Trigg Commons Area.
Sen. Harvey Luna (Dedman I) spoke about adding an LGBT seat. Luna, a first-year student, has been actively working on researching and writing legislation on this issue during his time at SMU.
Luna brought up several issues within the LGBT community that show a need for adding a special interest seat, including the lack of gender-neutral bathrooms and housing, as well as harassment of LGBT students.
An LGBT seat, he argued, would help “change the perception that SMU is homophobic,” from the outside in. Luna said changing SMU’s stereotype would appeal to potential LGBT students, who could then start changing the culture within SMU.
Equestrian athlete, Morgan Toal, spoke in favor of a student athlete seat. Toal said there’s a lack of interaction between the two groups.
“The only time that I get to interact with the student body” is in class, she said, noting that her schedule is busy with practice, games and homework. Toal said that many athletes are prohibited from joining organizations like sororities, so their interactions with non-athletes are limited.
Toal said a survey was sent out to student athletes. Of the 63 athletes who responded, she said 65 percent were in favor of becoming more involved in student government.
Pascual Pellegrino spoke on the issue of transfer students.
Pellegrino noted that transfer students want to be accepted, but often they can feel unwelcomed by the University community. Pellegrino, himself a transfer student, says he didn’t see a lot of welcoming when he arrived on campus.
Pellegrino also noted that transfer students have difficulties when applying for housing or registering for classes, since many are accepted to the University late in a semester.
