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The controversy involves the Student Fees Advisory Committee, which UH students view as their most direct way to affect change on campus. It sets the budget for millions of dollars in student fees each year, funding campus services like health care, veteran support and career advising.
While previous debates have centered on subsidies for athletics, the committee became a flash point again last year after UH administrators dissolved the Student Government Association, which state statute holds responsible for making student appointments to the advisory committee.
Instead of waiting for a new student government this spring, UH officials convened a group of current and former student leaders to conduct interviews and appoint new members to the advisory panel, a university spokesperson said.
That work-around got the attention of state Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston. She wrote a letter to UH Chancellor Renu Khator on Nov. 25, saying she worried that the appointments were improper and "undermined student authority."
"The statute reflects the Legislature's belief that students should have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting the more than $25 million in annual student service fees at UH," Morales Shaw wrote. "While I deeply respect UH's autonomy in managing its affairs, I want to ensure we're on the same page regarding the statutory requirements for student representation."
State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, also wrote a letter to the student chair of the committee, urging her not to sign the 2027 budget recommendations until it was clear UH was following the law. The student chair did not respond to requests for comment.
"If this statutory requirement was not fulfilled, any subsequent budget recommendation could be rendered legally questionable and potentially subject to administrative challenge or legislative inquiry," Dutton wrote on Nov. 18.
