The second ASUCD Senate meeting of the new year was called to order by Vice President Abhay Sandhu on Jan. 19 at 6:14 p.m. in the Mee Room of the Memorial Union. Senator Sam Park was absent during quorum roll call and arrived late.
Nisha Patel, a mental wellness student coordinator for Health Education and Promotion, started off the meeting with a presentation on the department’s current campaigns for consensual and safe sex. Patel also noted plans for a medical amnesty program to promote student wellness.
Next, Yolo County supervisor Don Saylor discussed how the county supports its low-income community members through the Calfresh pantry and provides health care by using the Night’s Landing community as a poster child.
After the presentations, the Senate discussed legislation. Aggie Public Arts Committee chairperson Suhaila Sikand proposed Senate Bill No. 32 to implement the downtown Davis piano project in the campus Quad. Senator Daniel Nagey suggested that the piano should have an ASUCD plaque since it will be providing the appropriate funds. The senators agreed and the resolution passed.
Senator Samantha Chiang announced Senate Bill 33, which calls for the mandatory participation by ASUCD Senate and ex officio members in the Safe Zone and PEACE training. With further explanation, the bill passed.
Scott Dresser, editor-in-chief of The California Aggie, introduced Senate Bill No. 34 to allow newspaper staff members to be paid in the form of weekly stipends, as opposed to hourly salaries, for the remainder of the 2016-2017 academic year. With no objections, the bill passed.
Mason Schmidt, the Student Alumni Association president, proposed Senate Resolution No. 4 to change the association’s payment plan and to thank ASUCD for its assistance. The bill passed with no objections.
The senate then moved into emergency legislation regarding the Milo Yiannopoulos event, hosted by the Davis College Republicans (DCR), during the previous week. Senators Chiang and Nagey discussed how ASUCD holds some responsibility for the event and the protests following since it provides support for the Club Finance Council (CFC), which funds the DCR. The senate emphasized that the CFC should not have given the DCR money for the event in the first place and that ASUCD condemns the DCR for violating the UC Davis Principles of Community.
“We should be taking responsibility for the part we had in this,” Chiang said. “Because of our funding, we have directly contributed to something that is harming our student body.”
Nagey also noted that interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter’s email to the UC Davis community was vague about the Yiannopoulos events. Nick Flores, the Internal Affairs Commission chair, added that the administration needs to be supportive of its students.
Chiang called a resolution to condemn the DCR into question. The motion was seconded and passed in a vote of 11-1-0, with Senator Matthew Yamaguchi in opposition.
The meeting then went into public discussion, during which student activists Sarah Shemery and Connor Gorman stressed their disappointment with senate members for not being present at the Yiannopoulos protest and for not showing support in response to the protest.
Following a break, the senate introduced new legislation, including a constitutional amendment to form the judicial council and oversight committee of ASUCD.
The meeting was adjourned by Sandhu at 9:30 p.m.
Written by: Jeanna Totah — campus@theaggie.org
