ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Oct. 8 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room.
Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m.
Joe Chatham, ASUCD president, absent
Chris Dietrich, ASUCD vice president, present
Joemar Clemente, ASUCD senator, present
Danny Garrett, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Gold, ASUCD senator, present
Erin Lebe, ASUCD senator, arrived at 6:15 p.m.
Kevin Massoudi, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Patrizio, ASUCD senator, arrived at 6:15 p.m.
Laura Pulido, ASUCD senator, present
Shawdee Rouhafza, ASUCD senator, present
Trevor Taylor, ASUCD senator, present
Mo Torres, ASUCD senator, arrived at 6:13 p.m.
Previn Witana, ASUCD president pro-tempore, present
Jack Zwald, ASUCD senator, present
Appointments and confirmations
Ashley Lee, Laura Mitchell, Alison Tanner, Jane Teixeira and Sing Wang were appointed commissioners for the Gender and Sexuality Commission, GASC.
Will Quinn, Lauren Ward and Greg Webb were appointed commissioners for the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission, EPPC.
Luke Hammons and Rucha Heda were appointed commissioners for the Elections Committee.
Presentations
Gretchen Braun, a lecturer in the English department and former UWP instructor, talked about the negative effect of non-tenured staff layoffs on class availability for students, especially within the UWP department. The removal of five instructors resulted in the elimination of fifteen sections of upper-division writing required for many students to graduate.
Joshua Clover also talked about the need for student coalitions and solidarity to fight fee increases, expanding class sizes and course cancellations. He stated that undergraduates in particular need to take part in correcting these issues. Clover also discussed assisting under-paid staff and the reallocation of existing UC budgets to better address student and staff needs.
Alysia Garrison, an English graduate student and member of the UCD Organizing Committee, talked about student confusion and fear regarding budget cuts. Garrison announced an Oct. 29 event at Delta of Venus called “It’s Alive” for increasing awareness about the cuts, as well as coordinating a campus-wide event on Nov. 18, a date close to the predicted time of approval of student fee increases.
Jessee Woo, recent UCD graduate and former tutor, discussed the cutbacks in group tutoring sections for statistics after his first year at Davis, which drastically reduced his and many other tutors’ office hours. He said that this prevented many students from getting desired tutoring. Woo stated that since training was cut as well, tutors were less effective.
Mackenzi Moretz talked about the Teach for America program and its goal to help bridge the educational gap in America between higher-income and lower-income students. Moretz stated that the next application is due Oct. 28.
Urgent Legislation
An Urgent Senate Resolution authored and introduced by Pulido and co-authored by Tim Kerbavaz of the Entertainment Council to allocate $12,798 from Capital Reserves to purchase a Sanyo PLC-XF71 blimp screen projector and lens for Entertainment Council-Campus Cinema was passed unanimously.
Public Announcements
Priya Shukla, chair of EPPC, stated that there would be an environmental showcase in Chemistry 196 on Oct. 19.
Hartstein stated that the Parliamentary Procedure Workshop will be held Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Torres announced that applications for attending the Student of Color Conference in Santa Barbara are due Friday, Oct. 16.
Ex-Officio reports
Jackie Limon, chair of the Academic Affairs Commission (AAC), stated that the last Lecture Series event will be held Nov. 17.
Elected Officer Reports
Sarah Raridon, chair of GASC, stated that her office hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Delta of Venus.
Torres announced that the Student Community Center that will be built by Shields Library now has computerized blueprints available online. The groundbreaking will take place next summer and is expected to open by fall 2012.
Meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m.
ARNOLD LAU compiles the senate briefs. He can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
