Change reflects new External Affairs Vice President position within ASUCD
Senate Bill #39, recently passed by the ASUCD Senate, effectively renamed the Office of the External Vice President (OEAVP), previously known as the Office of Advocacy and Student Representation (OASR). According to Francois Kaeppelin, the director of the OEAVP, ASUCD President Michael Gofman supported this initiative because he “has been wanting an External Vice President.” Senate Pro Tempore Alisha Hacker, who “untabled” SB 39, also backed the bill.
The bill, formerly known as SB 11, was revised and authored by Adam Hatefi, the chief of staff for OEAVP, to reflect the new role of the office after the establishment of the External Affairs Vice President position within ASUCD.
“With this name change, ASUCD aligns with the rest of the UC student governments and sets forth on a journey of cooperation to promote proper and equitable representation for the campus population,” the OEAVP said in an official statement.
The statement also highlighted the office’s desire to “tackle issues that affect students most, like homelessness and food insecurity.”
“We’ve worked hard and waited for so long to see this change happen,” Kaeppelin said via email.
One current project is the Davis Community Co-operative (DCC), specifically designed to address these issues. The DCC program aims to help feed the homeless and work with socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Davis, Woodland, Winters and Sacramento. This project is evidence of OEAVP’s desire to be a “community service-oriented office.”
The OEAVP is also hopeful that the role of the DCC can be expanded to help students in a wide range of academic fields as well as address student-life related topics, including philanthropy, housing, clubs, the environment and social justice.
Additionally, OEAVP has been working on a bill in the California State Assembly that will provide grants for small farms to use water-saving and cost-effective irrigation techniques.
“It’s important for students because reducing our water usage allows us to grow more food with less water and can therefore alleviate food insecurity here on campus,” the statement added.
Written by: Rebecca Bihn-Wallace — campus@theaggie.org
