UT Senate Of College Councils

On July 27, 1973, the Constitution of the Senate of College Councils received approval from the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System. On this date Senate was recognized as the official voice of students at The University of Texas at Austin in academic affairs. But even before then, College Council leaders had been coming together to discuss academic issues on campus. As early as the 1950s, Council presidents were joining together to share their best practices and to collaborate on University-wide issues. Several such meetings later, the Senior Cabinet was formed, a predecessor of Senate that was the first to formalize the relationships between the various College Councils and provide a student forum dedicated exclusively to the discussion of academic issues. Several name changes and more than a half-century later, the Senate of College Councils is today comprised of 22 College Councils representing a membership, including the Councils, agencies, At-Large and Executive members, of more than 1,000 students. Though Senate has grown appreciably since that first meeting between Council presidents, the heart of the organization, and its core purpose, remains the representation of students' concerns with regard to academic affairs.