Politics – Page 20 – Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

Learning by Watching: Board of Adjustments

May 26, 2022, Morgan Robertson

Although it is summer, the LEAP Ambassadors look for ways to learn. Thus, when Ken Holland, Chairman of the Board of Adjustments (and HISD Trustee), invited us to attend a board meeting to see how the City works, we jumped at the chance.

Mr. Holland prepped us for the meeting by supplying the agenda ahead of time and explained to Yvette and me what a Board of Adjustments does. He told us that the board is made up of citizens who wish to serve their community (much like City Council, which is also a board). The seven members of the board meet when there are cases to be discussed, and they do not get paid for their time.

Before the start of the meeting, we spoke with Aron Kulhavy, City Manager, for a while and I was also able to introduce Yvette to Kevin Byal, Director of Development Services for the city.

The meeting began, just like City Council, with the pledges and an invocation. The next item on the agenda was a Public Hearing for a variance request.

A public hearing consists of three parts: (1) a description of the variance, (2) comments in favor and (3) comments against. Public hearings for a variance are a time in the meeting in which a representative from the city will explain the issue and why the citizen is requesting a variance. Once the representative from the city explained the facts of the variance, the Chairman, Mr. Holland, opened the floor up for comments from the public.

The second part in the public hearing calls for comments in favor of the variance, and a representative for the citizen gave a detailed description in favor of the variance, which involved property on a setback line for the construction of a new structure. Previously, on the land in which the new structure was to be built, there was a structurally unsound shed that has since been removed. The owners of the property are looking to build a pool house on the site of the previously existing structure. However, due to the layout of the property and usage of the land, the structure would encroach on the setback line by 4 feet.

The property owner then spoke in favor of the variance, as did a neighbor who believed it to be in the best interest of her property as well.

The third part of a public hearing calls for comments against approval of the variance, and at this meeting there were none.

Mr. Holland closed the Public Hearing, and then began the 6^th item on the agenda; for members of the board to discuss and decide on approval or denial of the variance.

After some deliberation and discussion, the Board of Adjustment decided to approve the variance with the staff recommendation of a four-foot setback with a 1-hour fire-rated wall assembly required.

The meeting was interesting from start to finish, and I am grateful we were invited to watch our community at work!

The LEAP Ambassadors would like to thank Chairman Holland and the City of Huntsville for inviting and welcoming us to learn!

Learning in a Time of Pandemics and Misinformation

By Bella Urbani

As our first day came to an end, we attended another fantastic Houston World Affairs Council event at the Amegy Tower featuring Joel Simon, who discussed topics from his book Infodemic regarding censorship associated with COVID-19. As a nice bonus, we also had a chance to meet former LEAP Ambassador Esme Mata, who after graduating from SHSU, went to the Bush School at TAMU, and is now working for Harris County. And we had a chance to see Amegy Tower for the first time!

As we know, COVID-19 is still a very controversial and confusing topic, but Simon–with skillful moderating by Ronan O’Malley–was able to articulate how the COVID-19 pandemic led to various types of censorship across the globe.

The most fascinating subject Simon talked about was how some countries installed tracking apps on their subjects’ phones, so that they could see where they travel, whom they interact with, and whether they have potentially been exposed to COVID. If a person has interacted with a COVID patient, that individual is given mandates to stay at home or go to quarantine, and if they don’t, they can be fined or otherwise penalized. In some cases–as in Russa–individuals were given notifications in the middle of the night, and if they did not respond in time, they were assumed to have broken quarantine, and fined.

It was interesting to learn more about how other nations responded to the pandemic and how censorship policies, in most cases, hurt their country.

One item of particular interest was the importance of local news and leadership. National news figures and media have the “reach,” but they lack the trust, the sense of shared identification with locals. Local newspapers, local reporters, and local leaders share that identity, but almost thirty years after the advent of the internet, they no longer exist in many communities. They lack the reach. So, citizens were not getting information from people they trusted in many cases, and they also lacked information that the national media could not give: such as where to go locally for vaccines, or where medical supplies could be purchased, and the like.

The whole experience was very informative and easy to understand and Simon’s answers to our questions were very knowledgeable regarding censorship, which I appreciated.

After Simon spoke, we were able to get a signed copy of his book, followed by a picture! It was a great opportunity to see old friends (LEAP students and WAC staff), learn something new (from Joel Simon), and make new friends (Esme Mata).

A Presidential Tour: Jean Becker and President G. H. W. Bush

Isabel Behm

It is not every day that you get a tour of a presidential office, and even less common to get one from a presidential chief of staff. But on a busy Wednesday in the middle of summer, LEAP students had just that opportunity: Jean Becker offered a wonderful two-hour tour of former President George H. W. Bush’s office in Houston, TX. Coincidentally, the tour occurred on Barbara Bush’s birthday, one of many connections we would make over the course of an educational afternoon.

Although we didn’t personally know Ms. Becker, we felt like we did from discussions with Professor Yawn and our reading of her book, “The Man I Knew.” And in the conversational, warm manner of her book, Ms. Becker welcomed us with open arms and was full of enthusiasm upon our arrival.

One of the first stories she shared with us was about the christening of the USS George H W Bush. Ms. Becker stressed how important it was to President Bush that the christening happen while his son (George W Bush) was still president. While the Navy said that this wasn’t possible, being a former President (and father of another) has its perks, and with a few phone calls, Ms. Becker was able to make it happen. The office is full of photos, and each photo has a story, and no one is better at bringing these stories to life than Jean Becker.

Another treat of the afternoon was having the opportunity to sit in the chair that President Bush sat in during Cabinet meetings in the White House. Each of us took our turn in the chair, and all of us enjoyed looking over the items that President Bush had on his desk. For a moment, we felt a bit presidential.

The conversation with Ms. Becker ranged across many topics, from international security to the friendships that President Bush developed over the years. One of those with an unlikely individual: Bill Clinton. This is somewhat surprising, of course, because President Clinton beat President Bush in the 1992 election, so one might expect some animosity. But following an international emergency in 2004, President George W. Bush asked his father and Clinton fundraise to help those affected by the disaster. This sparked a friendship that lasted until President Bush’s death.

While we learned a lot about the man President George H.W. Bush was, we also learned about how Ms. Becker came to be his Chief of Staff and how her life was drastically changed. She grew up in a small town, went to college in her home state, and upon graduating, worked her way up with various newspapers to USA Today. In 1988, she was assigned to cover the wives of the presidential candidates. When George H. W. Bush was elected, she was offered the role of Deputy Press Secretary to the first lady.

When this job ended following President Bush’s loss in 1992, he offered her the position of his “interim” post-presidency chief of staff. The interim position lasted for more than 25 years–until his death in 2018.

In a very relatable way, Ms. Becker shared many thoughts about her career, offering us valuable advice for our own careers. In particular, she reminded us it was okay to stray away from our “plan,” which is what she did when she was offered a job at the White House.

We were there for more than two hours, and time flew by. When we left, we all agreed that we could have listened to her all day, if schedules and time permitted. She was a wealth of knowledge, we absolutely enjoyed every second of it, and we were impressed by her example of hospitality and generosity.

Side Note: It wouldn’t be a LEAP trip, if we didn’t learn something about art. So it was interesting that, when we entered the building, we encountered a bust of George Bush done by Huntsville artist David Adickes.

Moreover, we also saw a work by George Rodrigue, an artist LEAP is familiar with through trips to Austin and New Orleans. Here the work was on President Bush’s wall, and it was signed to him by George Rodrigue!

Venezuelan Refugees: A health, economic, and educational crisis

Morgan Robertson

Although summer is often a time for students taking time off, Izabella (Bella) Urbani, Isabel Behm, former LEAP Ambassador Quinn Kobrin, and the LEAP Ambassadors braved the Houston summer traffic to attend The World Affairs Council Event “Combating Venezuela’s Refugee Crisis.”

We were excited to be invited to the Palm Restaurant, a nice steakhouse in downtown Houston. We ventured through the dining room and into a private room that was decorated with murals featuring scenes of Houston.

The room was full of doctors and medical professionals from Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Chevron employees, and interested citizens of Houston. Jessica, Saara, and I introduced Bella and Isabel to Sandija Bayot, the Chief Development Officer for WAC, and someone we can always count on for a warm greeting.

Maryanne Maldonado, the Executive Director of the World Affairs Council…

….introduced Dr. Michael Mizwa, who is the Director of Global Health, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the CEO of Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.

Before actually speaking on the topic, Dr. Mizwa, offered us a friendly greeting of “Go Bearkats,” and then moved to an introduction of our featured speaker: Ana Maria Galvis, the Executive Director of Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Colombia.

Galvis began by explaining some of the issues that Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) face. However, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia operates somewhat differently than traditional NGOs. The program is run and operated by Colombians and, although the overall program objective is to promote health, they can’t do that without addressing related issues. Thus, they focus on four major issues: health, food, education, and nutrition.

Recently, there has been an influx of Venezuelans migrating to Columbia; many of whom require immediate or long-term medical care. The employment rate in La Guajira (a Department of Colombia0 is 26.1 % and only one-third have visas. To provide aid to the incoming Venezuelans, the current President of Colombia has offered 10-year permits. Galvis said this has helped to reduce the number of undocumented migrants, but there is still work to be done to track their medical needs.

Since the program is an NGO, it is held to a different standard than the privately funded healthcare centers. Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia offers 25 health certified services, and they have a dedication to “not just treating the illness, [but] treating the human being.”

Since 2014 the program has provided treated 12,400 patients, administered 7,000 vaccinations, and is the only NGO in Colombia authorized to provide the Covid-19 vaccination. The program has done amazing work to provide aid for the current crisis, and their approach is what we, as social science majors, also aim for: the help communities, not just individuals.

The event was enormously educational, and it also moved us out of our comfort zones, prompting us to converse with professionals over lunch, discussing topics with which we aren’t overly familiar.

It is a recipe for growth, and one we enjoyed very much.

Ambassadors Come Together from Across Texas

May 29, 2022, Yvette Mendoza

One of the many wonderful programs offered by the Annette Strauss Institute at the University of Texas at Austin is the Texas Civic Ambassadors program, which I was fortunate to be selected for last year. I was one of approximately 30 such students selected, and this past weekend, many of us descended on Austin to participate in the TCA’s closing ceremonies.

I was able to meet with people from El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, north Texas, and I, of course, represented SHSU and East Texas.

The Institute brought in public servants to speak to us, including Austin’s Mayor, Steve Adler and Matt Glazer. Both provided insights into civic engagement, from Adler’s discussion of how he tackled a pandemic in Austin, and Glazer discussed how change occurs–by caring, by being present, by stepping up, contributing, being accountable, advocating, and planning.

While we learned from these public servants, we also learned from each other. Each TCA presented their project and what progress they have made thus far. It included creating a Latinx open house, voter registration drives, getting junior high and high schoolers civically involved, and the like.

My project, Beyond Bars, focuses explicitly on civically educating the students at Sam Houston and the citizens of Huntsville on the incarceration process–from arrest, to prosecution, to incarceration and alternatives to incarceration, to rehabilitation and reentry.

Along with listening to one another, we also had the opportunity to network with TCA alumni and other people who have significantly impacted our state with various nonprofit organizations.

To top off our ceremony, we didn’t leave without getting a taste of Austin at Kerbey Lane; this gave us a chance to say our goodbyes but never forgot our love for engagement.

I am incredibly grateful for the various opportunities I have been given in this program, and I will continue to use what I have learned at Annette Strauss Institute on my path of continuing civic engagement.

Candidate Forum: (May) Runoff Version

Jessica Cuevas

With the primary run-off elections around the corner, the Walker County Republican Party hosted a Candidate Forum for residents on May 10^th at the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veteran Museum of Texas, allowing the residents of Walker County to hear from the candidates one last time. And, if residents weren’t able to attend in person, the Huntsville Item lived streamed it so that almost everyone could be informed.

LEAP Ambassadors Morgan, Heather Erin, and I helped with check-in, while candidates also manned tables highlighting their candidacies. Ms. Mckenzie introduced things.

Despite being the quietest of the group–or, in fact, any group–I was asked by Ms. Mckenzie to say the pledges.

The questions for the forum were submitted by members of the community, out of which only seven were selected by a committee for each office: County Judge and District 12 State Representative.

Judge Tracy Sorensen was the moderator for both, which was nice, because we always enjoy the opportunity to see and spend time with her. In fact, she recently spoke at our Pre-Law Society and hooded our graduating members.

In this forum, each candidate had two minutes to respond to the questions. These questions varied from state and county-specific issues, depending on the race, to why they thought they were the best candidate for the position they were running for which they had three minutes to answer.

Morgan assisted in keeping time and informing the candidates how much time they had left.

The first to go were the candidates for state representative of District 12, Kyle Kacal and Ben Bius, followed by Colt Christian and a representative for Mr. Frank Olivares (Olivares was ill not able to attend personally)

Election day is on May 24^th, however, why wait? Early voting opened yesterday, May 16th, and closes on Friday, May 20^th. Be sure to get your vote in!

LEAP Center, Population Health Enjoy Expert Panel on World Health Day

Good things happen when people work together. With that spirit in mind, the LEAP Center partnered with the Department of Population Health to attend the World Affairs Council’s panel on health, fittingly, on World Health Day, April 7, 2022, in Houston, Texas. The panel, featuring heavy health hitters such as Dr. Deborah Birx (Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator); Dr. Brett Giroir (16^th US Assistant Secretary of Health), Michael Mizwa (CEO Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative), and Dr. Patricia Brock (Founder, Medical Bridges).

With majors from population health, political science, criminal justice, and history, the students were able to learn not only from the panelists, but also from each other.

According to Yvette Mendoza, a LEAP Ambassador and a veteran of many World Affairs Council panels, “getting other students’ perspectives, especially from those students who study health, allows us to see larger parts of the puzzle. It was interesting to see how all of our majors, in their own way, share the goal of making their communities healthier and stronger.”

The concept of collaborative service that was discussed impressed the SHSU students, and it has long resonated with Dr. Rosanne Keathley, Associate Chair of the Department of Population Health. Indeed, in the spring of 2020, Keathley tuned in to a press conference in which Dr. Birx discussed the importance of masks, and heeding the call to service, promptly mobilized a dozen SHSU volunteers. Working in the FACS Clothing Construction Lab, Keathley and her team collectively sewed and crafted more than 5,000 masks, providing them to campus staff, the local community, the hospital, and to others assisting in the effort to fight COVID. “We wanted to help, and we wanted people to remain healthy, so we went to work,” noted Keathley.

Such service has long been a part of SHSU, central to the institution’s mission and its motto. Events like these, observes Mike Yawn, Director of the Center for Law, Engagement, And Politics , “are integral to providing students professional contacts, role models, and education outside the classroom.” For their part, the students seemed to agree: “It was incredible,” noted Mendoza, “to see so many highly-educated public officials collaborating to make the world better.”

According to the panelists, much of the progress that has occurred in medicine in the past four decades has been the result of research, development, and collaboration. Their stories—combining outreach and innovation—were alternately touching, inspirational, and sobering. Dr. Brock spoke glowingly of American medicine, but also described going to far-flung areas of the world to train in hospitals so short of resources they were forced to reuse gloves and sutures.

Dr. Birx—who, in addition to her work on COVID-19, also served as the White House’s global AIDS coordinator for both Presidents Obama and Trump—emphasized the importance of data-driven decision making. Such analysis, she argued, should allow agencies to work together rather than devolving into political squabbles. And by “talking with one another” and working together, “we can save lives and make the world healthier.”

“It was an enlightening panel.” noted Yawn. “The panelists’ message of collaborative service translates very well to education, and I think it resonated deeply with our multi-disciplinary group.”

Freshmen Develop Leadership Skills in “Mock City Council”

Huntsville Item

If you have 30 promising freshmen together in one place, it’s a good bet that the Freshmen Leadership Program (FLP) is involved. If those freshmen are involved in a civic engagement exercise, the LEAP Center may be part of the proceedings. The collaboration of these two offices, under the stewardship of Lindsay Lauher and Mike Yawn, led to a Mock City Council in Council Chambers on a Wednesday afternoon late in the spring semester.

“We are always looking to push students’ leadership skills,” noted Lauher, “and civic leadership is a key component of our program.”

The Council meeting involved students adopting various roles: angry citizens, media officials, city council, and city staff—all of which involved a deep dive into public policy. In particular, the council members of Mockville, Texas, explored the possibility of “legalizing cannabis” and “implementing an extensive wellness program” for City staff. Both, as one might imagine, were controversial.

In addressing the legalization of cannabis, for example, students had to assess the health ramifications (Public Health Director), the impact such a policy would have on crime (Chief Public Safety Officer), the legality of a city moving against a state law (City Attorney) as well as the political implications (Council members) of the ordinance.

Students initially thought that a wellness program might be less controversial, but questions of privacy slowed down the proceedings. The ordinance involved “free” Fitbits provided to all City of Mockville employees, with the hope that this recourse might offer helpful reminders to stay healthy. But devices such as Fitbits also collect a lot of information about the wearer: exercise habits, sleep habits, location, and, in some cases, both dietary routines and sexual health. Putting that information in the hands of employers met with resistance among the council members.

Apart from the policy issues, however, perhaps what most impressed the students was the difference between their perceptions and the reality of a council-manager form of government. Tristen Anderson, a freshman Criminal Justice major and “Mayor” during the proceedings, was surprised at how little power the mayor had: “On television, you see these super powerful mayors, but that’s just not the case in most cities.” This realization, he noted, “changed my entire perspective on that type of politics, perhaps even to the point of seeking out such an office later in life.”

Jared Scott, a freshman Accounting major, agreed. “I enjoyed the whole experience, and although I am an Accounting major, I hope to run for City Council in whichever city I settle down in.” For one of the sessions, Scott did serve as a “Council member,” while serving as “City Manager” in the other session. Both impressed him, and, in fact, Scott was so struck by the experience, he actually attended the next City of Huntsville Council meeting, just to compare it to his experience. “All in all,” he continued, “I learned a lot from this activity, and I’m glad that both the LEAP Center and FLP are open to students of all majors.”

“It’s a pleasure to work with high-achieving students,” said Yawn, “and I think good things happen when offices on the academic side of things (LEAP) collaborate with offices on the student affairs side of things (FLP). We all have the same broad mission.”

The FLP offers rich learning opportunities to test, refine, and further develop the leadership abilities of first-year students. For information, contact Lindsay Lauher at lindsay@shsu.edu or 294-2347. The Center for Law, Engagement, And Politics offers students unique activities that promote the public good. For information, contact Mike Yawn at mike.yawn@shsu.edu or 294-1456.

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