Last week in Senate
The ASUCD Senate meeting was called to order by Vice President Abhay Sandhu in the Memorial Union’s Mee Room on Jan. 26 at 6:10 p.m. President Alex Lee, Senator Shaitaj Dhaliwal, Gender and Sexuality Commission Chair Alison Tam and Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) Chair Nick Flores were absent during quorum roll call. Lee, Tam and Flores arrived later in the meeting.
The meeting began with Stacy Wong, director of the Experimental College (XC), presenting a report about the XC’s collaboration with Creative Media on a new logo. The report also included XC hiring a new course coordinator, working with the dining commons to advertise to freshmen and looking to expand its social media to Twitter and Instagram.
Confirmations were then made. Three students were confirmed as External Affairs Commission members. There were no objections.
Next, Elections Chair Sevan Nahabedian made announcements about the upcoming Spring Quarter elections. Creative Media had online petitions available for candidates and UC Davis.
Following presentations and confirmations, legislations were presided over. Senate Bill No. 35 clarified who the voting members of the Unit Relocation and Space Allocation Commission will be moving forward. With no objections, the bill was passed.
Senate Bill No. X requires that all members who voted yes on the bill attend an event to educate themselves on the Muslim community. There were concerns of ingenuity and already present “woke-ness,” or awareness of a community’s racial and social injustice, in student leaders. Chiang mentioned that Omar Awad, the president of the Muslim Student Association, would oversee the bill to keep student leaders accountable. After further discussion, the bill passed unanimously.
Senate Resolution No. X concerns ASUCD supporting and advocating for more student housing on campus. With no objections, the resolution was passed.
Committee Amendment No. 50 concerns creating a new judicial council and judicial council oversight committee (JCOC) after the court was dissolved last quarter. The amendment will be more institutionalized by having five members where one is a chairperson and the other four are commissioners.The chairperson will check in with Senate Pro-temp, who will also be in charge of hiring.
Zach Nelson, a student who attended the meeting, brought up concerns of the JCOC being impartial and ASUCD closing its doors on students. Nelson’s concerns were answered by senators.
Chiang mentioned that the JCOC would only get involved if an appeal was made for the judicial council decision. Flores was worried about students with entry-level experience having the power to overturn Senate decisions. Multiple senators brought up disinterest in the student body to join the judicial branch and why internal hiring may lead to more motivated and invested judicial members.
Then the house was divided on having the the vice president, chief justice and justice on JCOC. The motion failed in a vote of 1-7-3. Senator Sofia Molodanof was in favor and Senators Shaitaj Dhaliwal, Simran Grewal and Daniel Nagey abstained.
Chiang called to add subclauses to Article X, Section 2, Clause 2 so that in the event that the vice president, IAC chair or judicial council chairperson is authored or addressed in a bill or appeal in question they will be replaced by the controller, IAC vice chair or judicial council vice chair. The motion passed in a vote of 8-1-2. Molodanof was against the bill and Senators Martinez and Dhaliwal abstained.
Committee Amendment No. 50 was carried in a vote of 9-1-1 after its amendment. Molodanof was against it and Dhaliwal abstained.
Sandhu adjourned the meeting at 10 p.m.
Written by: Yvonne Leong — campus@theaggie.org
