Journalist: Heba Saleh (TU)
Aidan DeVore is a delegate from Southeastern University. He was elevated to the position of Vice Chair of his delegation and has served four stars — two being special sessions — in the House of Representatives.
At the previous special session, he called debate on the bill that would restrict the number of seats in the House and allot them in accordance with the population of the schools participating. Being vehemently opposed to the bill as it would negatively impact smaller delegations according to the impact assessment he compiled, he called debate. Ultimately, he, as well as the rest of SE, decided to vote in favor of the bill after amendments were instituted that protected smaller delegations for the sake of saving House chambers.
The delegation has not had to make alterations as a result of the legislation. Rather, it has grown. As the VC of his delegation, DeVore is excited to see his 0-stars flourish in chambers, adding that, just last year, he was on the other side.
DeVore was elevated to the position of VC after managing communications of his delegation the previous year and raising $400 by himself in order to help his delegates get to session. As he wanted to continue working in this same vein, he elected to become VC and focus on the fundraising and publicity side of promoting his delegation.
DeVore brought a couple of bills this session. His bill that would prevent lawmakers from lumping together non-sequential topics of legislation into one bill was heard today, although it failed 54-24 in the House.
The bill of his that he is most excited to have heard is the Protective Order Modernization Act. This act would mandate that restraining orders forbid the person who the order was filed against from contacting the person who filed it digitally as the current Oklahoma Statutes do not have such protection.
This session he was ”voluntold” to be a committee chair, in his words, where he got a delegate from wanting a do fail recommendation to one of recommendation of no recommendation (“rec no rec”).
Although he swears he looked at the bill packet, DeVore currently has no favorite bill to be heard on the floor but is excited for the community service competition, which has been altered since last session.
For their community service project, SE focused on survivors of domestic violence, which they called “Students for Survivors.” In this project, SE delegates tabled to raise awareness of domestic violence, sold purple chrysanthemums, taught a lesson in the Survivor Academy on basic things like changing a tire and other car maintenance tips, and conducted other events conducive to making their community more aware of domestic violence.
DeVore is excited to see how his delegates do and how the 1st Session of the 57th Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature plays out.