ASUCD Vice President Bradley Bottoms presided over the weekly senate meeting on Feb. 27. The meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m.
Senate then proceeded to unit reports. Unit directors from Unitrans and STS/Tipsy Taxi presented. STS director Jay Chou announced that the unit will be hiring someone to take his position beginning finals week.
Senator Jonathan Mitchell walked in at 6:46 p.m.
During appointments and confirmations, senators confirmed Mina Arasteh to the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission. Next, senate moved to committee reports, and the Unit Relocation Space Allocation Committee and the Marketing Committee presented. The Marketing Committee announced that the usage of the ASUCD logo, discussed in ASUCD bylaw 16, will hereafter be allowed if used in certain colors.
After public announcements, Senator Gareth Smythe motioned to have the senate see Senate Bill #50, which limits the length of breaks during senate meetings to 30 minutes unless otherwise made public 48 hours prior to the meeting. Senator Katie Sherman made a small grammatical correction to the bill, and then senate then passed it 11-0-1.
Senate then motioned to re-refer Senate Bill #48, which would create a Renovations and Construction Committee, back to the Internal Affairs Commission.
Next, senate motioned to table Senate Bill #47, which calls for senate to have a quarterly town hall-style meeting, and did so with a 11-0-1 vote.
The meeting then moved into ex-officio reports. Jenna Wooster, chairperson of the External Affairs Commission, announced she is retiring from her position after Winter Quarter.
Dana Sever, chairperson of the Academic Affairs Commission (AAC), said that the commission is looking at potential alternatives to Saturday finals. Also, Sever said that the AAC is looking for a professor to host the next “Last Lecture” event for Spring Quarter.
Spencer McManus, Internal Affairs Commission chair, spoke about the updates to SISWEB, which include a new schedule-building tool in addition to more customization options.
Senate then moved back into appointments and confirmations, briefly interviewing and then accepting four candidates to the Student Health and Wellness Committee.
Senator Miles Thomas motioned to move into consideration of old legislation. Senate Bill #55, which would allocate money from the KDVS reserves to buy six new computers for the station, passed unanimously.
ASUCD President Carly Sandstrom addressed her decision to veto Senate Bill #41, which would amend the ASUCD bylaws to somewhat mirror California’s Brown Act of 2003, which calls for open meetings for local government bodies. She cited politically incorrect language, logistical concerns and unfeasible legislation as her reasons for the veto.
Thomas, who authored the bill, said a follow-up bill was in the works, and that Sandstrom should not have waited until the bill had been passed almost unanimously (10-0-2) through senate to voice her concerns with the bill.
A motion by Thomas to divide the house on overturning the veto was not seconded.
Next, Smythe motioned to move the meeting to elected officer reports. After the reports, senate moved to orders of the day. Bottoms and McManus announced two upcoming court cases: Thomas v. Sandstrom on March 3 and Kinsey v. Gonzales on March 8.
The meeting moved to public discussion. ASUCD Controller Eric Evans discussed future plans for the ASUCD post office and the Experimental College. Senator Mariah Watson then motioned to call a closed section meeting for next week regarding “personnel matters.” Senators and the public then discussed more efficient methods of obtaining and publishing senate meeting minutes.
Finally, senate approved the minutes from the Feb. 13 senate meeting.
Bottoms adjourned the meeting at 10:05 p.m.
— Scott Dresser
