Last Week in Senate
ASUCD Vice President Adilla Jamaludin called the May 4 ASUCD Senate meeting to order at 6:14 p.m. 11 senators were present. President Josh Dalavai and Senator Khadeja Ibrahim were absent. Senator Yajaira Ramirez Sigala was late.
Senator Samantha Chiang nominated Senator Julie Jung as interim pro tempore. Jung was elected as interim pro temp unanimously with Ibrahim abstaining due to her absence.
Creative Media gave its unit report explaining operations over the last two quarters. A presentation on the app Pocket Points was given. Members of the Greek fraternity Zeta Beta Tau gave a presentation and requested ASUCD’s support for Green Light Go!, a sexual awareness and education event. Nick Campbell was confirmed as the returning unit director for the Experimental Community Garden. A unit report was given on the Aggie Reuse Store. Two candidates were confirmed to positions on the Academic Affairs Commission. Both were confirmed unanimously with Ibrahim abstaining due to her absence. Eric Gudz gave a presentation from ASUCD City Relations. The Dream Committee gave a report. KDVS presented its unit report.
During public discussion, Senator Daniel Nagey discussed attending a private meeting in Oakland with UC President Janet Napolitano and representatives from other UC campuses. The meeting discussed a systemwide referendum on having a UC-wide fee for all schools to be a part of the University of California Student Association. There was also discussion of administration helping with voter registration, a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 on UC campuses and allowing graduate students the right to collective bargaining. Nagey also discussed attending a budget hearing in Sacramento regarding the $175 million held in University of California Office of the President (UCOP) reserves. Napolitano clarified that $85 million was restricted funds, such as for labs and research programs, and $87 million was unrestricted funds, including one time funds and grants. Napolitano said that she would take into account 33 recommendations made by the UC Academic Senate. Nagey also said that the UCOP agreed to fund cultural competency training for student leaders.
After a 10-minute break, Senate returned to order. Chiang, who had left the first half of the meeting during the final unit reports, was absent for portions of the second half of the meeting as well, including all votes on legislation.
ASUCD will be introducing four new bills to committees next week: to remove the position of ASUCD historian, to allocate $27 to purchase an ASUCD Senate Meeting Procedure poster, to allocate $297 for the Startup and Innovation Panel held on May 28 in the UC Davis Conference Center and to replace all mentions in the ASUCD bylaws of “Internet and Networking Committee” with “Technology, Internet and Networking Committee.”
Next, the Senate discussed Senate Bill #86, a bill to clarify the process to reserve a room through the Student Government Administrative Office (SGAO). Since there was no process codified in the ASUCD Bylaws to book rooms through the SGAO, the bill was agreed upon. The bill was called into question and SB #86 passed 10-0-2.
The Senate then discussed SB #76, a bill to amend Bylaws section 1410, to not require the American flag to be flown during meetings. The bill was originally passed 7-2-3 and then vetoed by President Josh Dalavai. Dalavai sent back an amendment to replace Clause B with “it shall be on the imperative of any individual senator to bring and erect the flag at any ASUCD meeting.” The change was accepted by the Senate and author Itamar Waksman. The bill passed with the president’s amendments with nine in the affirmative, zero against, and Senator Matthew Yamaguchi abstaining. Two abstentions were recorded for Ibrahim and Chiang’s absences.
Ex-officio reports and Elected Officer reports were given. Previous meeting’s minutes from April 13, 20 and 27 were approved, 10-0-2.
Jamaludin adjourned the meeting at 9:40 p.m.
Written by: Jayashri Padmanabhan — campus@theaggie.org
