The University of Maryland’s SGA unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday night to sign a letter defending a federal bureau that helps protect students against unfair loan practices.
The letter — addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — supports the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, a U.S. agency founded in 2011 to protect against unfair financial practices. The CFPB offers education about student loans and protects students against predatory loan providers.
Noah Eckman, a freshman chemical engineering major and an engineering representative for the Student Government Association, sponsored the bill, which he said came to the SGA’s attention thanks to MaryPIRG.
“It’s something that’s on every student’s mind,” Eckman said. “The CFPB goes a long way in making sure that when students have to take loans, they’re taking loans from companies that are fair.”
[Read more: Students struggle to stay on top of private loan repayments]
The letter has been signed by student organizations at other universities, including the University of California Student Association, the University of Missouri Graduate Professional Council and the University of Southern Maine Student Government.
In October 2016, a federal appeals court panel ruled that President Trump should have the power to fire the head of the CFPB. A rehearing of the case is set for May 24.
Republicans and advocates for corporate America have asked Trump to fire CFPB Director Richard Cordray and restructure the organization to limit its scope and reach. Critics claim the agency’s structure is unconstitutional, as it has one director who cannot be fired without cause.
In January, the CFPB sued the nation’s largest student loan provider, Navient, for “illegally failing borrowers at every stage of repayment,” according to the CFPB website.
Mihir Khetarpal, the director of SGA’s governmental affairs committee, said the SGA’s signature is important because there have been concerns about whether this agency will remain intact. In today’s political climate, the bureau could be in jeopardy, Eckman said.
“Showing we as students, as the next generation, think that this is important, not just for us now, but for us in the future, is a good stance to take,” said Khetarpal, a junior government and politics major.
[Read more: UMD SGA calls for one member from each class on advisory boards]
The SGA also signed a resolution encouraging this university’s colleges to adopt a uniform name for its student advisory councils and create a website merging the information on each college’s council and how to apply for them. The resolution passed 29-0, with one abstention.
Architecture representative Kelsey Winters, a junior, said she emailed the deans of each college about their dean’s student advisory council.
“There’s sort of a disconnect, and it was hard to bring up this topic because they didn’t quite know what I was referring to,” she said. “It’s important even for the deans who don’t have councils to get input from their students. That’s essential to make progress in our colleges.”
Winters said she hopes this bill will increase awareness of these councils and encourage people to apply.
“If there’s a centralized place to find this information, if it’s more well known, then more students will be able to apply and be considered for the position,” she said.
The arts and humanities college, for example, refers to this student group as a dean’s advisory board, and the University Libraries refer them as a student advisory group.
Winters said every dean and college should use the same name for these councils because “creating a mutual name creates a mutual importance.” Whether a college has a student advisory council is up to each college, as is the application process, she added.
Junior government and politics major Paige Rodrigues also spoke in support of the bill.
Rodrigues, the Greek residential representative, said the behavior and social sciences college’s dean’s student advisory council helps bridge the gap between the students’ needs and the administration’s work.
“Oftentimes, some of the best ideas the administration gets are from the students,” Rodrigues said. “It’s really important we get the word out there so we can have the best applicants applying for these positions on the dean’s student advisory council.”
