On May 25, the ASUCD Senate held its weekly meeting on the third floor of the Memorial Union (MU). The meeting was called to order at 6:12 p.m. by ASUCD Vice President Adilla Jamaludin. Senator Michael Gofman was absent at the start of the meeting and President Josh Dalavai was not in attendance.
The meeting began with the selection of a new pro-tempore. Senator Samantha Chiang, who resigned the previous Monday, previously occupied the position. Senator Julie Jung, nominated by Senator Jose Meneses, was selected to fill the position.
The first item on the agenda was a presentation by the Environmental Policy and Planning Commision. Sarah Risher, the chair for the commission, spoke to the Senate about important environmental facts, the commission’s participation in recent events such as the Aggie Food Connection Fair and the new toilet talk posters they distributed around campus.
Afterward, the Center for Advocacy Resources and Education provided consent training, touching on a number of issues such as sexual assault and intervention. The training, which included the entire table, lasted just under an hour.
During break, senators headed to the first floor of the MU to gather for a photo.
Senator Daniel Nagey was absent at the beginning of the second half of the meeting, which began with the unit report for Experimental College Garden, a group focused on sustainable gardening and health.
Next, the Senate moved to confirm a new chair for the DREAM Committee. Enrique Lopez, previously the vice-chair, was selected for the position.
Afterward, the Senate motioned to reopen the ASUCD 2017-18 student government budget. With Jamaludin excusing herself for the budget process, Jung served as the presiding officer while Senator Simran Grewal served as interim pro-temp.
The Senate moved to correct a pay issue with the Student Government Administrative Office, whose pay was previously approved as stipended. The Senate motioned to approve the salaries to hourly with 10 yes votes and one abstention.
Next, KDVS, which hired a news media director, had its budget approved with 10 yes votes and one abstention.
After motioning out of the 2017-18 budget, the status of previously passed legislation was discussed.
New legislation was then introduced. The legislation considered included a senate bill to shift the funds allocated to the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation by the 2016-17 ASUCD Budget, a senate bill to allocate $173.62 for food and art supplies for Senator Anastasia Ruttkay’s “It’s Time to Reclaim Our Bodies” sexual assault prevention event, a senate bill to establish the Food Security Task Force Committee and a senate bill to allocate $175.00 for the purchase of ASUCD graduation stoles. The senate bill for the purchasing of new stoles, SB #108, has since been withdrawn.
Afterward, the consideration of old legislation began.
The first bill presented was SB #102, which would allocate $1,000 for the ASUCD Volunteer Award. Authored by Jung, the bill originally intended for six people to receive awards of $150. The bill was amended so that 10 people would receive awards of $100. With 10 yes votes and one abstention, SB #102 was passed.
Next on the list was SB #103, which would make the budgetary seminar a mandatory seminar. With 10 yes votes and one abstention, SB #103 was passed.
Afterward, emergency legislation was introduced to the table. With Nagey joining, all senators were present.
The first piece of emergency legislation, which moved to hire a new chair, vice chair and three director positions by the end of the quarter for the elections committee, was unanimously passed with 11 yes votes.
Next, a senate bill to amend the procedure for ASUCD scholarships was introduced. The ASUCD Scholarships Committee normally receives information on students’ financial needs from the financial office after their applications are submitted to the committee. Afterward, the committee interviews potential awardees. Calling the process redundant, the bill would amend the bylaws to remove the interview portion. With 11 yes votes, the bill passed unanimously.
The last piece of emergency legislation was a senate resolution introduced by Nagey. SR #14 moves to support students in their efforts to advocate against a number of administrative issues with the University of California, including calling on reversing recent tuition hikes, redistributing funds to university workers and restructuring the UC system in a more democratic way for students and workers.
The resolution also calls on the senate to endorse a petition demanding these reforms, as well as demanding the resignation of UC President Janet Napolitano. Gofman moved to remove the inclusion of the petition, which failed with three yes votes, five no votes and three abstentions.
Next, Jung moved to call the bill into question. With nine yes votes and two no votes from Gofman and Senator Matthew Yamaguchi, the resolution was passed by the Senate.
Lastly, ex-officio and elected officer reports were given, with the table updating one another on recent developments. With the approval of last meeting’s minutes, the meeting adjourned at 11:40 p.m.
Written by: Ivan Valenzuela — campus@theaggie.org
