ASUCD Vice President Maxwell Kappes presided over the Senate meeting held on Nov. 21 in the Mee Room of the Memorial Union.
After quorum roll call, Senator Janesh Gupta began the discussion of asking senate to remove a current senator who is unable to attend meetings and serve on his post. Senator Katherine Sherman proposed appointing a new senator in the following meeting. The discussion was postponed until further notice.
Sherman motioned to move into committee reports. Senator Eugenia Chung brought to attention that the Media Board committee of ASUCD is still seeking five new students to join their team.
Senate discussed a possible conflict of interest case in which a student appointed by senate to the voting board of the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee also assumed the position of Assistant to the Chancellor. Senator Mariah Watson argued that the student had resigned the voting board in the summer before his work with the chancellor, and she voted to deliberate on this matter at another time.
Senate moved into discussing legislation and passed Senate Bill No. 18. The bill, authored and introduced by Senator Gareth Smythe, creates the Promise for Education Scholarship Special Committee in order to promote scholarship opportunities and award scholarship money to selected students.
During public discussion, senator Robyn Huey introduced a group of students who condemned the tuition raise and were working on proposing a bill that night to express student denunciation of the tuition increase. The legislation was still undergoing the legislative process and would be further discussed at the next meeting.
During Ex-Officio reports, ASUCD members mentioned that they had successful interviews for the Dream Committee project.
Senate then moved into consideration of old legislation. Senate Bill No. 21, introduced by senator Amelia Helland, proposed correction of Senate Bill No. 79, the bill that allocated funds from KDVS reserves to buy and install a microwave studio-to-transmitter link for the YOLO transmission tower. The amount of money allocated was $3,000 lower than the requested and approved amount. SB 21 was passed and the miscalculation will be corrected.
During presentations and appointments, Senate appointed a new chair member for the Student Health and Wellness Committee.
The chair of the Student and Police Relations committee gave a presentation imploring ASUCD to provide representation for student and police relations in senate. He also introduced plans of organizing and holding a conference to strengthen the relation between the UC Davis Police Department, the City of Davis Police Department and students.
Senate also discussed Senate Resolution No. 5, which calls upon the administration of UC Davis to accommodate for the growing needs of Muslim students through infrastructural upgrades on campus, such as meditation spaces and foot-washing facilities utilized for ablution.
