SR #11, SR #8, SB #19 and SB #20 passed at the senate meeting
By GABY SAINZ-MEDINA — campus@theaggie.org
Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez called the quarterly Town Hall meeting to order at 6:15 p.m. She then recited the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.
At the Town Hall, ASUCD senate answered questions coming from students attending the meeting both in person and online through the senate box.
A question that was discussed in great detail came from an audience member that shared about their friend being quarantined despite negative COVID-19 tests and not receiving the resources that were promised.
Senators responded to this by bringing up a meeting they had with the Academic Senate, requesting that teachers no longer use attendance-based grading this quarter.
“The response from the Academic Senate was that they can only have the best practices; they cannot force professors to do anything,” Gabriela Tsudik, the chairperson of the Academic Affairs Commission, said. “Hopefully this can change [in] the future, but for right now that’s all we have from the Academic Senate.”
After a few more questions regarding what senators are currently working on, a break was called until the senate meeting began.
The senate meeting was called to order at 8:32 p.m.
Aparna Manoj, the Mental Health Initiative (MHI) unit director, was the first to present a quarterly report, expressing that everything in the unit is running smoothly aside from a lack of office space.
“It really is something that I am passionate [about] that you all have the space, given that we made you a unit, and you all have gone through the trouble of expanding and showing that development to this table that you are capable of sustaining yourselves as a unit,” Senate President Pro Tempore Kabir Sahni said.
The Campus Center for the Environment proceeded. Assistant Unit Director Karl Zalhass explained that the center is currently working on hiring and getting its teams together.
The Library Committee Chairperson Dhanya Indraganti presented how they are aiming to provide gender-inclusive products in the library bathrooms and are going to begin posting vacancies in order to expand the committee’s staff.
“Given that you were confirmed during one of the meetings this quarter and the fact that you’ve accomplished even this much work with three committee members is super commendable,” Sahni said.
The AggieMentors Committee, which was created during the pandemic to support first-year and transfer students during their academic transition, currently has around 80 mentor-mentee pairs and those in charge of the committee are confident in how this goal is being accomplished.
During the public announcements portion of the meeting, Sahni announced that the ASUCD Scholarship application is open and is due on Nov. 17. Additionally, the senate encouraged students to submit nominees for the Volunteer Award, along with the Champagne Award.
The candidate that was to be confirmed as the chairperson of the Elections Committee during the meeting presented late. After much deliberation, the confirmation of the nominee failed unanimously.
“The elections are an extremely important part of the ASUCD democracy that we hold here for the students, and I’m not sure if I would be willing to put the trust of said elections in the hands of someone who is unable to communicate effectively,” Senator Aidan Kato said.
SR #11 was the emergency resolution introduced by Senator Harris Razaqi, which aims to recognize ADHD Acceptance Month and the struggles students with ADHD face. Because October was ADHD Acceptance Month, Razaqi felt it was necessary to present it immediately. The resolution was passed unanimously.
SB #19 calls for funding in order to educate UC students about threats to reproductive freedoms. The bill passed unanimously.
SR #8 is directed at ASUC at UC Berkeley and asks the organization to change its name, as it represents the associated students at UC Berkeley rather than the entire UC system. The resolution passed unanimously.
SB #20 proposed to disband the Committee on Committees, which had the power to fill vacancies in existing committees at UC Davis, and was passed unanimously.
Martinez Hernandez adjourned the meeting at 11:42 p.m.
Written by: Gaby Sainz-Medina — campus@theaggie.org
