The Student Government Senate called for optional face masks in the Student Recreation Center and passed resolutions condemning actions by the Chinese government during its March 29 meeting.
The second to last meeting of the semester resulted in only two bills read and passed, the first condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of the Uighur community, a mostly Muslim ethnic group. 
China has been accused by several countries of detaining and committing genocide against Uighurs at hidden camps. The bill’s author, Sen. Tiger Shi, says it is important to support international students at Texas State, some of whom may be Uighur. The resolution passed with 31 yeses and one abstention.
A resolution authored by Sen. Bruno Ladaniuski calling for the option to not wear face coverings while exercising at the Student Recreation Center passed 21-7. The resolution cited Gov. Greg Abbott’s lifting of the mask mandate and claimed that “asthma or other respirational problems” can occur while exercising with masks.
Outside of the resolution’s title — “NO MASKS AT THE REC CENTER WHILE DOING PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES” — there is no actual call to the university administration or any other authority figure to make masks optional, only a line stating, “The solution is to make the use of masks at the rec center optional.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages individuals with asthma and underlying medical conditions to wear masks in public and stay home as much as possible. Regarding issues wearing masks during high-intensity activities like exercise, the CDC recommends choosing a location, such as outdoors, with greater ventilation and social distancing. Should such a location be unfeasible, low-intensity activity allowing proper mask usage is recommended.
Student Government’s last meeting of the semester is on April 5 at 7 p.m.
All Student Government meetings and resolutions can be accessed by visiting the Student Government website.
Editor’s Note: The University Star has taken notice of consistent lower voter turnout in Student Government elections and thoroughly examined the actions of the current governing body. To provide students the most relevant information that directly impacts them, The Star will no longer give credibility to actions it deems irrelevant to students, such as but not limited to: Resolutions the university administration cannot act upon, back and forth disputes between representatives that do not directly impact the student body and symbolic actions taken only to incite outrage in others.
The Texas State University System notes the following about Student Government: “The student government on each campus shall be a recognized forum of student opinion.
7.21 When a student government takes a position on issues directly related to a Component and its operations, it shall forward its recommendations to the Chief Student Affairs Officer and the President.
7.22 When a student government takes a position on non-Component issues, it shall make clear the fact that it does not speak for the Component.”
Component = institution (Texas State)