ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Jan. 21 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room.
Meeting called to order at 6:11 p.m.
Joe Chatham, ASUCD president, present
Chris Dietrich, ASUCD vice president, present
Abrham Castillo-Ruiz [cq], ASUCD senator, present
Joemar Clemente, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Gold, ASUCD senator, present
Don Ho, ASUCD senator, arrived late
Joel Juarez, ASUCD senator, present
Andre Lee, ASUCD president pro-tempore, present
Levi Menovske, ASUCD senator, present
Kevin Massoudi, ASUCD senator, present
Laura Pulido, ASUCD senator, present
Bree Rombee, ASUCD senator, present
Shawdee Rouhafza, ASUCD senator, present
Trevor Taylor, ASUCD senator, present
Previn Witana, ASUCD senator, present
Appointments and Confirmations
The senate approved Greg Webb a commissioner to the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC).
The senate approved Caitlin Alday and Laura Thatcher commissioners to the Gender and Sexuality Commission (GASC).
The senate approved Quinten Voyce as Outreach Assembly (OA) speaker.
Elected Officer Reports
Clemente stated that the Asian Pacific Islander Retreat will be held this week, and also that he will be sitting in on the External Affairs Commission (EAC) interviews.
Farewell Speeches
Jackie Limon, Academic Affairs Commission (AAC) chair, gave her farewell speech, stating that she was resigning to focus on academics. She stated that she would not officially resign until a replacement was found, and that she would remain a part of the AAC.
Presentations
Caitlin Flint of Creative Media presented the three tentative designs for the revamped ASUCD logo.
Don Gibson, director of ASUCD City and County Affairs, thanked the senate for attending Housing Day, reporting that an estimated 1,650 people attended. Sixty tables were purchased at the event, an increase of 15 from last year.
Prior weeks Verdicts and ASUCD Court Announcements
Ryan Meyerhoff, Vice Chief Justice of the ASUCD Court, stated that the Court opinion found the moving of the senate meeting to Mrak Hall to be invalid and requires the minutes from that meeting to be noted as invalid. The swearing-in of senators at the meeting remains valid, however.
Rudy Ornelas, associate justice and one of the two justice minority part-dissenting opinion against the six-justice majority of the ASUCD court, commented that he and Justice Emma Seche felt that the majority opinion was illegal; that invalidating only the portion of the meeting held at Mrak Hall when senate meetings are supposed to be viewed as a single entity was incorrect. Ornelas also stated that when anybody in ASUCD does not have standing rules, just because a statement is not prohibited does not mean they are allowed to do it; the standing body only has powers that are expressly given by the bylaws.
Public Announcements
Dana Percoco, chair of the EAC, announced that Music on the Green will be holding meetings on Monday nights at 8 p.m., UCDC applications are due today and that Camp Kesem will be having its swing dance fundraiser on Jan. 29.
Lee announced that the BloodSource blood drive will be held Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Gold announced that he will be forming an official blood symposiumcommittee for an event to be hosted next year. The first meeting willbe Friday, Jan. 29 at approximately 3 p.m.
Jasmine Smith, chair of the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission(ECAC), announced that she signed up for an ECAC PEACE training during either Feb. 8 or 22, and encouraged any interested senators or commissioners to join.
Sarah Raridon, chair of GASC, announced that Beyond the Binary Week will be ongoing this week.
Public Discussion
Lee discussed the ASUCD Entertainment Council (EC) and Electronic Music for Change’s (EMC) event at The Grad set to take place in five weeks. The proceeds will go to the UC Davis UNICEF Club.
Gold stated that the planned ASUCD senate common office hour will likely be held at 5:30 p.m. in separate rooms on the third floor of the MU.
Menovske stated that CALPIRG will be doing a dance-off and a faculty-versus-students dodge ball tournament to raise money for the victims of the recent Haiti earthquakes.
Clemente motioned to send the deliberation of the constitutionality of the ASUCD president to author legislation other than Senate Bill 1 to the ASUCD Court. The motion passed with no objections.
Urgent Legislation
An Urgent Senate Resolution authored by Chatham, co-authored by Dietrich, Yani, Castillo-Ruiz, Gold, Rombi, Juarez and Limon, and introduced by Gold, demanding that the Regents of the University of California and UC President Mark Yudof immediately seek alternative revenue sources in order to reduce the recent 32 percent fee increase and prevent future fee increases, passed with an 8-1-3 vote.
Meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m.
ARNOLD LAU compiles the senate briefs. He can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
