On Thursday, Nov. 17 ASUCD held its last meeting before the Thanksgiving break. Senators Shaitaj Dhaliwal and Sam Park were absent.
The first piece of legislation presented was Senate Bill #19, introduced by Senator Adilla Jamaludin. SB #19 would allocate $102 from senate reserves for 20 self-care gift bags for a mental health and grief workshop.
“The purpose of this mental health and grief workshop is to help students realize they are not alone in dealing with grief and to have students aware of the different resources available on campus,” the bill read. “Furthermore, the event will also give students the opportunity to discuss the frustrations and challenges they face, in particular, self-care and how to talk to friends about issues.”
The bill passed with a vote of 10-0-2, with Dhaliwal and Park abstaining.
The next item on the agenda was SB #22, which removes all mentions of the Outreach Assembly (OA) from Chapter 2 of the ASUCD Bylaws, replacing it with the Department of Outreach and Recruitment.
SB #22 was authored by Nick Flores of the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC), and subsequently introduced by the IAC.
“In the spring 2016 special election, Constitutional Amendment #45 passed, dissolving the OA from the ASUCD Constitution,” the bill read. “OA is to be replaced by the Department of Outreach and Recruitment and is to be moved from the Legislative Branch into the Executive Branch. Since the Amendment passed, the Bylaws need to be updated accordingly. This bill will fix all changes that need to be made in Chapter 2 of the ASUCD Bylaws.”
Similarly, SB #23, also authored by Flores, removed all mentions of the OA from chapters 10, 11, 14, 16 and 22 of the ASUCD Bylaws and replaced it with the Department of Outreach and Recruitment.
Both SB #22 and #23 passed with a vote of 10-0-2, again with abstentions from Dhaliwal and Park.
During public discussion, emergency legislation was introduced by Senator Samantha Chiang to allocate $31.69 to purchase flowers and admiration bags for the six senators terming out in fall 2016.
While the exiting senators expressed gratitude for the gesture, the legislation was not passed, with a vote of 3-7-2, concluding voting for the day.
After reports and announcements by ex officio members and elected officials of the senate, the meeting minutes for Nov. 10 were passed.
The meeting adjourned shortly before 8 p.m.
Written by: Ivan Valenzuela — campus@theaggie.org
