The Student Government Association (SGA) will send a formal request to administration to make texting while driving a punishable offense on Tarleton State University’s campus. 

This resolution was passed unanimously through the House of Representatives and, after some debate, through the Senate as well.

To fall in line with the Stephenville city ordinance, SGA has passed the resolution to administration that texting while driving on campus should be a punishable offense.

“It’s important that our students are safe on campus,” Eric Schultz, Speaker of the House, said.

Being a city ordinance and not an actual law, Tarleton police cannot ticket students for the offense. However, a punishment has still not been determined at this time.

“Dean Moore is usually the person to deal with situations such as this, so she was our first thought to decide punishment for students caught texting while driving on campus,” Schultz said. “This is not set in stone and more consideration will be taken into what should be done when the suggestion is sent to administration.”

The use of hands free devices while driving will remain permissable on campus. This includes Bluetooth headsets, ear pieces and speak-to-text applications on phones.

“We feel it is important for the SGA to support this and help students realize that we need to make our campus a safer environment for pedestrians as well as other drivers,” Alvin Allcon, Interim Chief of Police, said.

For more information on this resolution, contact [email protected]