UCOSA Forms Presidential Task Force

Presidents of organizations and councils on campus will have a chance to communicate their concerns and opinions through a new task force student body president Remington Dean is starting.

Dean said this idea came about after attending the Oklahoma Student Government Association retreat. He said Southwestern Oklahoma State University has a similar task force and after multiple conversations, he decided UCO would benefit from this change.

This task force will help the communication barrier he has been facing with administration, according to Dean.

“It seems like every time I bring a concern to administration they brush it off,” Dean said. “However, with this council in place, hopefully I can refer administration to them about these legitimate concerns.”

Stockton Duvall, current Leaders of Tomorrow president and former UCOSA president, said he supports the new task force and believes it is a great idea for communication between organizations.

“I think having a way for presidents of organizations to connect is important so there is more collaboration across campus,” Duvall said.

In February when Duvall was UCOSA president, the association rescinded its invitation to Christian apologist speaker Ken Ham after hearing the Women’s Research Center/BGLTQ+ Student Center at UCO opposed Ham.

Duvall said that a similar task force was discussed during his time as president. However, this force would hold meetings at the beginning or end of the year for presidents of organizations and councils, but challenges with budgeting and bringing everyone together prevented it from happening.

“I definitely think its a good idea; my administration just did not see it as a priority,” Duvall said.

Duvall said LOT is a diverse organization and in order to become a member, you have to go through an interview process. Those accepted receive a scholarship and members living on campus receive a housing stipend.

Savannah Anderson, president of the Native American Student Association, said she believes the whole campus can benefit from the task force.

“I feel there is a disconnect between us and UCOSA, and having this new task force will help our issues,” Anderson said.“Our issues are UCO’s issues.”

There will be an upcoming announcement from UCOSA for the exact date of the meeting but Dean says it will take place in November.

The exact date of the meeting is still being determined, but Dean said it will take place in November and depending on how the first meeting goes, the task force may meet once a month.