ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the March 3 meeting location, Wall Hall.
Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m.
Jack Zwald, ASUCD president, present, arrived late, left early
Previn Witana, ASUCD vice president, present
Yena Bae, ASUCD senator, present
Miguel Espinoza, ASUCD senator, present
Emmanuel Diaz-Ordaz, ASUCD senator, present
Andre Lee, ASUCD senator, arrived late, left early at 10:11 p.m.
Amy Martin, ASUCD senator, pro tempore, present
Mayra Martín, ASUCD senator, present
Tatiana Moana Bush, ASUCD senator, arrived late
Darwin Moosavi, ASUCD senator, present
Matthew Provencher, ASUCD senator, present
Brendan Repicky, ASUCD senator, present
Rebecca Sterling, ASUCD senator, arrived late
Eli Yani, ASUCD senator, present
Presentation
Joel Juarez, a representative for Financial Aid Awareness Week, returned $40 to ASUCD. ASUCD initially gave $400 to FAAW, but only $360 was needed.
Appointments and Confirmations
Oliver Fong, Rudy Ornelas and Jaspreet Bahia were confirmed as Supreme Court Justices. Repicky motioned to confirm the candidates separately, which passed unanimously. Fong and Bahia were confirmed in a unanimous vote, while Ornelas was confirmed in a 7 to 5 vote. Martin, Moosavi, Lee, Bae and Sterling voted against Ornelas. Martín, Espinoza, Diaz-Ordaz, Bush, Provencher, Repicky and Yani voted in favor of Ornelas.
Consideration of old legislation
Senate Bill 48, authored by Caitlin Alday, co-authored by Espinoza and introduced by Diaz-Ordaz, to allocate $106.67 from Senate Reserves to the Queer Student Union for the 21st annual Western Regional Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual Conference taking place March 4 through 6, passed with an 11-1-0 vote. Lee voted against the bill.
Senate Bill 50, authored by Zwald, co-authored and introduced by Yani, to include financial actuals in the budget, passed unanimously.
Senate Resolution 8, authored by Garrett, co-authored by Moosavi, Kase Wheatly and Will Quinn and introduced by Moosavi, to express the dissenting opinion of ASUCD against the Student Housing decision to close and evict the residents of the Domes, passed unanimously.
Consideration of urgent legislation
An urgent Senate Bill, authored by Zwald, to allocate $3,000 to ASUCD for fireworks, was not considered urgent in a 2-9 vote.
Public Discussion
Bush announced that the Affordable Education Panel, where students can voice their concerns about student fees and budget cuts with the chancellor and decision makers, will take place the evening of March 8 in Chem 194.
Sergio Cano said — in regards to Ornelas’s ethics being questioned as a Supreme Court Justice — he has never seen ethics brought up during confirmations before this meeting. Moosavi said he did not trust Ornelas due to personal experiences, and he is concerned with his ethics.
Zwald said he introduced the urgent bill because whenever an absurd bill was introduced, he would respond with an equally absurd bill. The mock urgent bill was in response to a bill introduced in that meeting to allocate $138,000 from Capital Reserves to fund Entertainment Council’s Kid Cudi concert.
Moosavi, who authored the bill to fund April 28’s concert, said he was offended by Zwald’s urgent bill.
Bush said she will introduce the idea of institutionalizing The Pantry at this year’s budget hearings.
Other Business
Mayra Martín was voted to represent ASUCD senate in the Recruitment Retention and Outreach Committee.
Moosavi and Provencher were voted in as the senators to sit on as members for the Unit Relocation and Space Allocation Committee (URSAC).
Public Announcements
Dana Percoco announced that the External Affairs Committee posted openings for four alternates and one commission position.
Witana said executive farewells will take place during the senate meeting next Thursday at the Gunrock Pub at 6:10 p.m.
Past Meeting Minutes
Approved.
Meeting adjourned at 11:03 p.m.
MICHELLE MURPHY compiles the senate briefs. She can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
