The University of Texas Student Senate quickly responded to the recent A&M Student Senate action.
After a veto by Student Body President John Claybrook of Student Senates passed bill delving in religious funding exemptions and originally, GLBT Resource Center funds the student senate at UT unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday in support of continued funding for their campus Gender and Sexuality Center.
Bill authors said the resolution, AR1, came as a response to A&M Senates The Religious Funding Exemption Bill, which passed 35-28 on April 3 and advocated that students be allowed to opt out of various services according to disagreement on moral and religious grounds. Another prompting cited by AR1 bill authors included a movement from Republican state Rep. Bill Zedler, who proposed and later retracted an amendment that would prevent state funds from reaching centers such as A&Ms GLBT Resource Center.
A bill co-author to AR1, Nosa Aimuyo, said the bill is a statement to legislatures around the state.
“It’s a way to let legislatures know that not all of the big Universities in Texas are against anything such as our Gender and Sexuality Center at UT,” Aimuyo said.
Scott Bowen, senior chemical engineering major and Senate speaker at A&M, said UTs legislative actions arent of concern to him and his fellow senators.
“We answer to Texas A&M students, not students at t.u.,” Bowen said.
Fernando Sosa, student senator and sophomore political science major, said while he couldn’t comment on the provisions of AR1, he said both universities have a shared interest in an inclusive environment.
“Despite the diverse fiscal views and principles on campus, we should all agree that our universities should provide an inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds,” Sosa said.