Student Government is endorsing the Vedic Organization For Inspiration Culture and Education’s initiative to provide vegetarian and vegan meal options to students on campus.

VOICE, a student organization on campus that promotes healthy living and conscious eating, brought to the senate’s attention the concerns of students who feel that there aren’t enough vegetarian and vegan meal options on campus, and the options that are available at UTD are expensive. The organization also pointed out that the vegetarian and vegan meals are cooked in an environment in where meat is also cooked, which goes against their conscious lifestyle.

VOICE is looking to bring catering from an off-campus restaurant that meets their conscious-lifestyle standards, but because Chartwells is the official catering service for UTD, VOICE must meet with Chartwells to get their permission.

“Student Government will write a letter of support for VOICE,” said SG President Liza Liberman at the Feb. 4 SG meeting.

SG has also written a petition to get a Redbox installed on campus, which is currently circulating online.

SG has faced opposition from Redbox representatives who claim that college students are more likely to download movies on their laptops than rent them. SG is urging all students to sign this petition at: www.change.org/petitions/redbox-bring-a-redbox-to-ut-dallas.

• Residential Affairs chair Katie Truesdale said SG will provide a map of amenities to students with information regarding the different features, such as sport courts and fields, swimming pools, clubhouses and fire pits, available for use for students living on campus.

• Student Affairs Committee chair Casey Sublett announced that the University Bookstore now has new apparel and tumblers under $15, which is more affordable  than most UTD merchandise. She also reported that Auxiliary Services will be providing more seating in the Visitor Center in the near future. The seating will be similar to that in the Student Services Building lobby.

• Academic Affairs chair Joseph Lim said there will be two Meet the Dean events this month: one for the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences from 1-2 p.m. on Feb. 11, and one for the School of Arts and Humanities from 4:15-5 p.m. on Feb. 13. The School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies will not hold Meet the Deans events due to their deans’ busy schedules, Lim said.

• Technology Committee chair Brooke Knudtson updated the senate on the meeting with Dean of Students Gene Fitch regarding the UTD app and said the dean was impressed with the presentation, however, he still wants SG to do more research and look into the apps that other UT campuses have.

• Senate allocated $1,000 for graduation chords and medals for SG senators and $300 for Meet the Dean events.

• The next SG meeting will be at 5:15 p.m. on Feb. 18 in one of the Galaxy Rooms.