On October 29th, students from Austin’s four universities, Huston-Tillotson, ACC, St. Edward’s University, and UT-Austin, came together to discuss their needs and concerns to the District 1 and Mayoral Candidates. All of the candidates attended, including Mayor Steve Adler, Natasha Madison, and Mariana Salazar. Three students from St. Edward’s spoke about the issues that our student body deem crucial: sustainability, immigration, and Title IX.
Mary Knothe, the St. Edward’s Students for Sustainability President, spoke on behalf of sustainability. She noted that St. Edward’s cares about the three principles of sustainability: the environment, society, and the economy. She expressed St. Edward’s want for the city to become more environmentally conscious through more efficient transportation and infrastructure, but also to care and tend to the low-income and minority populations that reside in Austin.
Alma Baker, Co-President of the St. Edward’s chapter of It’s On Us, spoke on behalf of potential changes to Title IX across the US. She commented that the universities in Austin should not adopt these dangerous changes. She added the need for Austin to support sexual assault survivors in a trauma-informed manner. Jose Garibay-Medrano, a co-founder of Monarchs on the Hilltop, spoke about what St. Edward’s does to support DACA students and why the Austin community must continue to support immigrants.
The students from ACC, UT, and Huston-Tillotson added their concerns to the forum after the St. Edward’s students were finished. They mentioned major concern for affordable housing, food insecurity, and efficient public transportation. After the students were finished, all of the candidates were asked questions regarding their views and how they would create a better city specifically for students.
Because Austin has such a large population of students, this forum was crucial for each university’s concerns to be heard. All the students demonstrated passion about the issues that they brought forth. This event was important to connect the different university students. People left the event feeling excited to collaborate with one another in the future and motivated to create change in the community. We hope more events like this one happen in the future and more cooperation and community building happens between the different universities.
Contributed by Mary Knothe, ’19
Students for Sustainability President
Natasha Harper-Madison and Mariana Salazar will face each other in a runoff election Dec. 11. The last day to register to vote for the runoff election is November 12, 2018. Find more here about how to register and when you can vote in the runoff election.