Student Government voted Tuesday to make way for a new effort that will support Proposition 1, a Nov. 6 initiative that would bring UT a step closer to a medical school and teaching hospital.

Student body president Thor Lund, vice president Wills Brown and several other students presented initiative AR 15 at Tuesday’s Student Government meeting. The initiative calls for Student Government support of Proposition 1.

Proposition 1 would increase property taxes collected by Central Health, Travis County’s hospital district, from 7.89 cents to 12.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The increase would contribute $35 million toward operations at the teaching hospital and purchase medical services there from medical school students and faculty for the general public.

The AR 15 initiative explains why the proposed medical school and teaching hospital would benefit UT, Austin and the state of Texas, citing the creation of 15,000 jobs and the generation of $2 billion in annual economic activity locally.

Lund said the new medical services will be necessary to put UT on par with other universities in that respect.

“It brings a lot of prestige to UT,” he said. “A lot of the other top institutions around the nation have medical schools so it would only make sense that UT Austin had a medical school.”
 

Printed on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 as: Senator Zaffirini supports Proposition 1