ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Jan. 26 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room. The ASUCD president is not required to attend senate meetings.
Meeting called to order at 6:13 p.m.
Adam Thongsavat, ASUCD president, present
Bree Rombi, ASUCD vice president, present
Yena Bae, ASUCD senator, present
Jared Crisologo-Smith, ASUCD senator, present
Miguel Espinoza, ASUCD senator, present
Justin Goss, ASUCD senator, present
Anni Kimball, ASUCD senator, present
Amy Martin, ASUCD senator, present
Mayra Martín, ASUCD senator, present
Erica Padgett, ASUCD senator, present
Brendan Repicky, ASUCD senator, absent
Patrick Sheehan, ASUCD senator, present
Ryan Meyerhoff, ASUCD senator, present
Yara Zokaie, ASUCD senator, present
Presentations
Ken Burtis and Karl Mohr of the 2020 Initiative made a presentation. Mohr said the goals of the initiative were to maintain access to UC Davis, not have to contract and reduce enrollment, continue the financial stability of UC Davis, foster economic development and create jobs. Burtis said that there are three task forces who are in the planning stage of the project. Goss asked about the potential facility upgrades that would be necessary. Martin asked about the city of Davis’s ability to deal with 5,000 more students. Padgett discussed the issue of allowing more out-of-state students into the university. Espinoza also talked about international students coming to the UC, and said he wants access to education to be transparent. Burtis said he would love to have more students get involved in the initiative.
Dominick Carlson and Asha Fereydouni from Student Housing came to speak to the table. Carlson said that he is graduating and Fereydouni will be taking over. Fereydouni said he looks forward to working with the senate, and wants to continue holding senate meetings in residence halls.
Carlson also introduced We Are Aggie Pride, a new philanthropic organization where students can help other students by donating money. The program will go through the Financial Aid Office and Student Accounting and it is planning a kickoff event for the end of February.
Unit Director Reports
Bihter Ozedirne of Lobby Corps said it is focusing on legislation, specifically a bill for cheaper textbooks. She also said that Lobby Corp’s letter writing campaign is coming up.
Consideration of Old Legislation
Senate Bill 33, authored by Martin, to clarify the definition of vacancy in the ASUCD bylaws, passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 38, authored by Lee, co-authored by Ho, Hu, Maemura and Thongsavat, to require all ASUCD units to obtain t-shirt quotes through Campus Copies/ Classical Notes’s garment printing service. The table discussed whether or not it should force ASUCD units to get a quote from Campus Copies t-shirts before they get t-shirts. Many senators expressed the idea that they did not want to force their units to buy their t-shirts from Campus Copies. After a long discussion about the bill, the bill passed in a 6-5-1 vote. Espinoza, Martin, Kimball, Goss and Crisologo-Smith voted no.
Senate Bill 51, authored by Ho, co-authored by Lewis, introduced by Zokaie, to reallocate funds within Experimental College’s Budget to more accurately depict its daily operations. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 54, authored by Dias, co-authored by Cano, Meyerhoff and Sheehan, introduced by Meyerhoff, to allocate $1,612.98 from Capital Reserves to purchase three netbooks for Creative Media. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 57, authored by Kimball, co-authored by Bae, to allocate $1,176.68 from Capital Reserves to purchase reusable trays in the Coffee House in place of the old and lost tray, passed unanimously.
Senate Resolution 7, authored by Crisologo-Smith, co-authored by Anguiano, Borgonia, Gilbert, Ilano, Joanino, Marquez, Martín and Oka, in support of California Assembly Bill 889 (the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights). Espinoza and Martín discussed the importance of this bill. The bill aims to protect domestic workers and their rights. The bill passed unanimously.
Urgent Legislation
Senate Resolution X, authored by Sandstrom, introduced by Crisologo-Smith, to oppose the Minor Alcohol Preclusion Ordinance that has been introduced to the Davis City Council. The Act would allow police officers to breathalize anyone walking in the city of Davis, and would make it illegal for minors to have a BAC of more than .01. The bill passed unanimously.
Public discussion
There was a long discussion about the hiring of a new Chief Justice. Thongsavat wanted to appoint a candidate after he was confirmed as a Justice. Some senators said that this would go against hiring practices, and that the entire process needed to be re-done. Thongsavat agreed to redo the hiring process.
A student came to talk to the table about the Occupy UC Davis movement. He said he was unhappy that they were occupying the Cross Cultural Center and the U.S. Bank, and he wanted them to leave. The Education Opportunity Program (EOP) was supposed to move into the Cross Cultural Center building.
Members of the Occupy movement came to join the discussion.
Edd Montelongo of the Ethinc and Cultural Affairs Commission said EOP needs to exist, even though it would be better if they didn’t have to exist. He said that the occupiers were not just being disrespectful, they were making underrepresented student more invisible.
Public Announcements
Florence + the Machine will be playing at the Mondavi Center on April 18.
Margaret Link of the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission (EPPC), said that EPPC will be holding a sustainable transportation event on Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the ASUCD Coffee House.
Meeting adjourned at 12:57 a.m.
Open positions within ASUCD can be found at vacancy.ucdavis.edu. HANNAH STRUMWASSER compiles the senate briefs. She can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
