By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor
This story was modified Feb. 25 from an earlier version.
In a meeting that met quorum but did not have two-thirds of Congress present, SA appointed a new representative and reviewed an intramural department report from the research and development committee.
With two votes short from Congress to appoint Aaron Escobedo, non-traditional student and education major from Lamesa, to the Education Building representative position, Congress members made phone calls to obtain a voice vote from members who weren’t present.
For the required two-thirds to approve appointments, 30 of the 45 Congress members must be present. Twenty-eight were at Wednesday’s meeting.
Rep. Caleb Archer presented a response from Danny Kittley, director of intramural sports, to a report SA filed earlier this year.
Archer said complaints levied at the department spurred SA to ask questions about costs and scheduling.
“Basically, all these things are just common sense deals,” Archer said, citing rising energy costs and inflation as causes of increased prices.
Kittley also told SA he would modify meal arrangement for referees, providing food under special circumstances such as weekend tournaments.
Last semester, a weekend waterball tournament and part of the softball season were postponed, decisions that stirred student complaints. The department offered a full waterball season this semester and completed the softball season.
Archer said the department has appeared “cloudy” in the past, but after direct discussions with Kittley, he said open and better communication should help.
“When students have complaints, we already have an open channel to go through,” he said.
The department began producing a newsletter to improve communication, Archer said.
“We’ll see how satisfactory that is. The biggest thing we can hope for is that things improve.”
The department also gave a budget to SA to clear up any questions about spending, and Archer said he expects activities to be much clearer in the future.
“I guess the thing we’ve learned is Danny Kittley really is just trying to do his best,” he said.
