The Associated Student Body passed bills and resolutions regarding Americans with Disability’s Act maintenance requests and a new parking ticket warning policy during a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
ASB discussed and voted on three resolutions and one bill.
Resolution 24-6 proposed changing the University of Mississippi Department of Parking and Transportation’s warning policy to one warning for unauthorized parking per academic semester. The current policy gives students one warning per academic year. The resolution passed unanimously.
A resolution, if passed, is an official recommendation or request to university leadership. ASB senate leadership then advocates for implementation of the resolution to any university leadership that might be impacted, according to ASB Vice President Jack Jones.
Brady Moore, a sophomore public policy leadership major who served on the Department of Parking and Transportation Student Appeals Board, authored the bill. He believes the change would bring better communication for students who were unaware of the warning policy.
“Our students were caught in this lapse where they didn’t know the policy because it’s not listed anywhere on the parking website,” Moore said.
He also clarified that the resolution does not apply to legal penalties, such as parking in a handicapped spot without a parking sticker.
Resolution 24-7, authored by senior public policy leadership major Brittany Bustillos, urges the department of student housing to add dorm common space and ADA-related maintenance requests to the student maintenance request form. The resolution passed with a unanimous vote.
“We’re trying to make it more of a seamless process, so we want to urge student housing to add an option for ADA and common space maintenance requests so these problems can be addressed faster,” Bustillos said.
Currently, the university has a separate form called the ADA Barrier to Access report form that allows students, faculty and staff to submit any instances of a lack of accessibility.
ASB then discussed Bill 24-6, which advocates giving students pursuing dual degrees the opportunity to vote for both of their academic schools. The bill passed with a unanimous vote.
Ryleigh Felty, a senior English major and author of the bill, clarified who would be classified as a dual degree student.
“This is someone that’s majoring in any combination of two different academic schools, not two majors within one academic school,” Felty said. “(There are) 295 undergraduate students enrolled in majors in two separate academic colleges, and (the bill) will help students know that they can vote for both their academic senators.”
Resolution 24-8 proposed that WellReb Kits be passed out to campus residents at the start of each school year. The resolution passed with unanimous approval.
Elizabeth Wildman, a junior public policy leadership major who wrote the bill, collaborated with the William Magee Center to help distribute resources and packing bags for roughly 7,000 students last semester.
“This is really crucial, as 34.9% of college freshmen are reported to have mental health problems, which is what most of the resources were geared toward,” Wildman said. “The McGee Center and housing have made it very clear that they would love to continue this initiative with our help for years to come, and I really believe it’s going to be a useful resource to new students on campus now and in the future.”
ASB also filled two open senate seats.
Paul Winfield, a freshman public policy leadership major, was one of the two elected senators. In his nomination speech, he spoke about implementing better degree mapping and advising in response to several frustrated students.
“There is no clear, centralized system that shows us what classes we need, when we need to take them or how our AP and transfer credits will transfer here at the university,” Winfield said. “Making sure that it’s easy and accessible to be able to reach your advisor and properly plan out your academic journey over the next four years is really important.”
Freshman Jack McGeever, a public policy leadership major, was the other elected senator who campaigned for better transparency from the university housing department due to an incident of several Stewart Hall residents getting sick.
“I was sick for two weeks, and I thought it was COVID, but when I went to an off-campus place to get tested, it turned out it was mold sickness,” McGeever said. “The symptoms people are experiencing and the antibiotics they’re being prescribed are all consistent with mold sickness. If you call University Housing and ask for mold reports, they’re not going to give it to you.”
The Daily Mississippian reached out for comment about McGeever’s statement from Jacob Batte, director of news and media relations for the university. Batte said he would provide a response as quickly as possible.
Jones, a junior economics major, praised the newly elected senators.
“I was incredibly proud of the two open seat winners,” Jones said. “Both of them are people that have been here before, and I’m super proud of them and appreciative of their commitment to the Senate.”
