The meeting also gave several members of the Senate table a chance to voice their goodbyes as their term comes to an end
By BENJAMIN CARRILLO — campus@theaggie.org
Vice President Aarushi Raghunathan called the May 23 Senate meeting to order at 6:21 p.m. After roll call, she read the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.
First on the agenda, the Bike Barn presented their quarterly report, discussing some of the issues affecting the Bike Barn in recent times.
Teddy Mates-Munchin, the business manager for the Bike Barn, asked during the presentation if any lawsuit could arise from the Bike Barn publicly supporting Palestine.
“Would you pay for your own lawyer in that situation?” Senator Jacob Klein said. “Or would you expect that to come out of reserves?”
“I’m not sure why it’s only an issue of a lawsuit when it’s Palestinian rights in question,” Senator Yara Kadaan said. “Through a quick scroll through the Bike Barn’s page on Instagram, I see a post supporting Pride Month. And yet there’s no issue of a lawsuit there?”
Next, the Senate approved Vanessa Sandoval, a third-year environmental science and management major, to be the internal affairs commission chair. With the previous chair, Thuyanh Truong, stepping down, she delivered a speech with her goodbyes and her time working with the senators.
“So much time I have spent here has been spent reflecting on the past, but I think now as I’m leaving I can say that I enjoyed my time here and that I feel as if I have made an impact with my time on the Senate,” Truong said.
Afterward, there was a quarterly report presentation by the Whole Earth Festival (WEF) The presentation went through the highs and lows of the festival, which took place from May 10 to 12.
Senate President Pro Tempore Trinity Chow then gave her quarterly report and talked about the highs and lows of being a president pro tempore the last two quarters. The senators and chairmen all applauded Chow once she finished and thanked her for not only being a great president pro tempore but also for her kindness and care for the table.
Then followed public comment, where three students, including a previous senator, discussed their opinions of the recently passed Student Resolution (SR) #10, which affirms support for UCD Popular University for the Liberation of Palestine (PULP) and the encampment going on in the Memorial Union Quad.
“I’m not only hurt but scared about what this bill means and the nuance that ASUCD neglects to acknowledge,” one student said in their comment. “I’ve been stalked, harassed and bullied for my Jewish and Israeli identity.”
Senator Katia Bouali said that no one should feel unsafe in this environment and most senators nodded in agreement.
A previous senator was the next to make a public comment.
“Your commitment to democracy and transparency is disingenuous at best,” they said. “You all manage and vote for the budget you vote on. While you consider my ex-[Senate] table to be toxic, we would never usurp the democratic process.”
Kadaan was the first to respond, saying that she didn’t want to give any validity to the undemocratic claims.
Senator Bouali, Senator Nur Ambaw, Senator Gabriel Gaysinsky and Senator Jonathan Ng also answered this public comment, saying that there was no validity to the claim of undemocratic actions.
The senators then decided not to reconsider Constitutional Amendment #90 this meeting and postponed the voting to the next meeting. The table then passed the consent calendar, looked at the status of previous legislation and approved the meeting minutes.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:08 p.m.
Written by: Benjamin Carrillo — campus@theaggie.org
