A discussion of the Sexual Assault Awareness Advocacy Committee organization occurred, updates from The Pantry and The California Aggie
The ASUCD Senate meeting on Jan. 21 was called to order at 6:10 p.m. by Vice President Emily Barneond.
The first agenda item was the quarterly report for The California Aggie, presented by Editor-in-Chief Anjini Venugopal.
“With all the benefits that come with print, we, like all publications, continue to search for ways to expand digitally,” Venugopal said. “I am currently working on our long-range plan, and some of my ideas about digital expansion will be made more clear there—creating staff positions for people who are particularly interested in multimedia storytelling through audio and video for example.”
After Venugopal’s presentation, elected officer reports, followed by ex-officio reports, were discussed.
In his elected officer report, Senator Ryan Manriquez said that a new chairperson was
hired for the Student Health and Wellness Committee.
Senator Michael Navarro said that he, along with Senators Lauren Smith and Roberto Rodriguez Ibarra, met with the director of the Coffee House (CoHo) to determine action items following the CoHo’s indefinite closure.
During public announcements, The Pantry Director Ryan Choi provided updates.
“Across the state we are seeing an increased need among UC students who have returned to their hometowns but are still in need of resources,” Choi said. “Across the UC system—throughout all 10 UCs—and the UCDC program, we have discussed in our […] monthly calls about the ability for us to share resources.”
Choi said that basic needs resources on the UC Davis campus, like the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, will accept all UC students.
“All of the resources [students] will have obtained at their home UC campus, we would be able to support them with,” Choi said. “The only exception is for direct financial aid, money, doctors and things like that.”
Additionally, Choi said that an increase in donations allowed The Pantry to support students during Thanksgiving and winter breaks.
“With partnership with the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, we’re able to serve 270 students across our UC Davis campus with food vouchers and gift cards through statewide funding,” Choi said.
No comments were made in public discussion.
After a break, the Senate reconvened. When discussing the status of previous legislation, President Kyle Kreuger said that he “signed everything.”
No new bills were introduced at this senate meeting. ASUCD Senate Bills #47 and #52, and ASUCD Resolution #6, were discussed by the table.
ASUCD Senate Bill #47, which was introduced on Jan. 7, was tabled due to author Senator Roberto Rodriguez Ibarra being absent during this senate meeting.
This bill intends “to allocate $9800 to the DREAM Committee for the purpose of a relief fund for basic needs, specifically for DREAMers,” according to the bill.
ASUCD Senate Bill #52, authored by Senator Maahum Shahab, was introduced as emergency legislation.
Shahab said that this will likely be the first of many bills passed to ensure that the Sexual Assault Awareness Advocacy Committee (SAAAC) has a specific structure that can be sustained long term. According to the ASUCD Senate Bill #52 background, SAAAC “has faced many challenges in its ability to remain active, transition and train members who could adequately lead the committee in the future.”
“This is basically a bill that helps us specify within the SAAAC some of the positions— specifically the chair and vice chair—which weren’t previously stated on here explicitly,” Shahab said. “These are positions that will be assigned to students so that there can be a lot more structure.”
This bill was passed unanimously.
ASUCD Resolution #6, authored by first-year political science-public service major Cole Murdoch from the External Affairs Office, was introduced.
“I am introducing this resolution because, first and foremost, we are the last [in the] UC system to not have a resolution in support of a non-mandatory day on election day, which in my opinion is a little embarrassing,” Murdoch said. “We should be promoting student engagement when it comes to our elections. College students are one of the largest voting blocs in the country, let alone in California.”
This resolution passed unanimously.
After approval of the previous meeting’s minutes, the meeting adjourned at 7:39 p.m.
Written by: Aarya Gupta — campus@theaggie.org
