Senate holds Allyship training, passes resolution to support California Senate Bill 24
The April 18 Senate meeting was called to order at 6:15 pm by Vice President Shreya Deshpande. ASUCD President Justin Hurst was absent.
The meeting began with Senate pro-tempore elections with senator Andre Spinoglio being elected.
Next was an allyship training by the Gender and Sexuality Commision. During this training the members of GASC explained to the Senate and the commision chairs how they can be allies to the LGBTQIA+ community. They went into detail on various topics such as misgendering, how to become educated on these issues and ways to ensure that individuals are always respectful to those in the community.
Then, the consideration of old legislation took place. There were a few legislative pieces that were discussed between the senate, the chair and the authors of the bills. SR #11, which is intended to recognize the commitment of the late former ASUCD Business Manager, Janice L. Wimmer Corbett, was the first to be discussed. It passed with no objections.
SB #73, a Senate Bill to allocate $1,417.55 for the yearly supply of menstrual hygiene products in male and female CoHo Restrooms, was tabled in order to allow GASC and other commissions the time to review the bill before putting it up for a vote.
SB #76, a bill to allocate $347.30 for the ASUCD Excellence in Education award and its reception put on by the Academic Affairs Commission, was also tabled and referred to the Business and Finance Commission for further review.
There was an update on the status of previously passed legislation.
Next the floor was opened for public discussion. Members of the External Affairs Commision and the ECAC gave a short presentation on Assata Shakur in response to comments made at the previous Senate meeting. After the presentation, Deshpande commented on the tensions which took place during the previous meeting. They spoke about the need for communication and the need to have difficult conversations in order to solve problems.
During the public discussion, other topics were also discussed, such as housing troubles that are plaguing students. During this time, Senator Tony Chen wanted to consider his new bill as emergency legislation. Members of the Senate, however, deemed the legislation to not be an emergency, so the new bill will be introduced next meeting.
The Committee on Committees needed a new adopted senator, and Senator Sean Kumar volunteered for the task.
After public discussion, the Senate moved to review further legislation. SR #12, a Senate resolution to support California Senate Bill 24, was discussed and passed with no objections. California Senate Bill 24 would require certain public universities to provide medical abortions on their campuses. A longer version of the resolution is planned to be presented at a future senate meeting.
Next were public announcements. The senators and the commision chairs took this time to make announcements. They spoke about various issues ranging from the upcoming 5K run to the fact that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Once the public announcements were finished, elected officer reports were given. These reports contained updates as to what the past week looked like for elected officials and what their future plans are for their offices.
The minutes for the previous meeting were approved.
The meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.
Written by: Alexis Lopez — campus@theaggie.org
