Students Elect New Congressional Leadership

The University of Central Oklahoma Student Association appointed new congressional leadership for the 2018-2019 academic year at their weekly UCOSA Congress meeting.
Tate Atkinson, chair for UCOSA’s Accountability, Reform and Transparency Committee, was elected as UCOSA’s new congressional chair, while Public Relations Chair Jordan Medaris was elected as the new congressional vice chair and Sen. Emily Grim was elected as congressional secretary.
The nominees consisted of Senators Madelyn Dancer, Jared Barnett, Camilo Ulloa, Kendon Williams and Atkinson for Congress Chair; Senators Jack Armstrong and Medaris for Congress Vice Chair; and Senators Austin Loard and Emily Grim for Congress Secretary.
Each candidate was provided five minutes to speak on their platform for their position and 10 minutes was provided afterwards for questions from among the Congressional body.
Nominations were submitted at last week’s UCOSA Congress meeting.
The meeting lasted for 11 minutes and centered on the nomination process for the election of next year’s Congressional leadership, with senators submitting nine nominations for the election scheduled to take place on April 2.
“For everyone who accepted the nomination, next week we will have the actual election and each candidate will be given time to address Congress,” said Congress Chair Remington Dean.
For nominees who applied for chair, Dean said those not elected to the position would automatically be eligible for election to vice chair or secretary and that those not elected to vice chair would also be eligible for election to secretary. The six nominees not elected can return for another term as senators.
While UCOSA senators are required to be elected by the student body according to UCOSA bylaws, the process for electing senate leadership requires that only active members of UCOSA Congress are able to submit nominations.
Nominees must either be current or former active members of the UCOSA executive, legislative or judicial branches and bylaws state that the nomination is to be made as a motion that requires no second or vote to move forward.
Following the nomination process at last week’s meeting, UCOSA moved forward to unanimously approve the UCOSA Ways and Means Committee’s annual funding resolution. The resolution approved the distribution of more than $130,000 amongst 78 campus organizations that had applied for UCOSA sponsorship, according Jon Lowry, chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
“This has been the result of more than 100 hours of work from the Ways and Means Committee, which consists of myself, Charles Spells, Dayton Skeels, Madison Rubino, Josie Carlton, Teresa Metzger and Lisa Renfro,” Lowry said.