Bill makes Ethical Spending Committee permanent ASUCD entity; Bike Barn sales at a record high
By Rivers Stout — campus@theaggie.org
On Oct. 24 at 6:10 p.m., Internal Vice President Aaminah Mohammad called the ASUCD Senate meeting to order and began with a land acknowledgement to the Indigenous Patwin people.
New committee leaders were sworn in, including those for the Student Sustainability Career Fair Committee (SSCFC) and STEM Committee.
Tianneh Bonardi, a second-year political science and managerial economics double major, was sworn in as the fifth interim senator. She also occupies the position of social chair of the Danzantes del Alma, a Folklórico group on campus. Bonardi said that during her time in office, she wishes to increase ASUCD visibility so that students have better engagement with student government.
A new chairperson for the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission (ECAC) was also sworn in. They stated that they wish to combat discrimination while in office, specifically discrimination against the Palestinian community on campus.
Senator Jacob Klein, who previously abstained from voting on SB#52, raised a concern over the appointment.
“What do you think [is] the biggest issue facing our campus when it comes to ethnic and cultural affairs and how do you plan to work to address it?” Klein said via a later statement discussing the concern further.
Quarterly reports soon followed. Disability Justice Committee (DJC) Chairperson Noa Sumner was first to present. Before the official quarterly report began, Sumner shared the committee’s concerns with the ASUCD onboarding process and how it was not friendly towards people with disabilities, specifically citing a lack of communication. Additionally, DJC and Unitrans collaborated to replace signage on buses, with new signs noting that Unitrans drivers are available for help if needed.
ASUCD President Gaius Ilupeju acknowledged the ASUCD onboarding difficulties. He revealed that practices were currently under investigation following the recent hiring practice misconduct.
A break was called at 7:02 p.m., and the senate was called back into session at 7:22 p.m.
The Academic Affairs Commission then gave their quarterly report. The chairperson stated that they were in the beginning stages of an initiative to change when midterms could be conducted. There were also talks about the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs (OSSJA) disproportionately targeting international students and how this could be rectified. Banning Turnitin was mentioned, as it counts Google Translate as AI software. The chairperson explained that this causes an issue, as many international students who don’t speak English as their primary language rely on translation websites and software.
The Bike Barn’s quarterly report soon followed. Business Manager Emilie-Anne Roxas stated that this year’s Mooove-in Week saw the most sales the Bike Barn had ever had, with $100,000 of profit being made between opening day and the first day of classes. Roxas also noted that they’ve seen more crashes involving e-bikes and e-scooters than ever before.
Ilupeju commended the Bike Barn, saying that he wished other units could be as “on it” as them.
Roxas then raised a question to the senate concerning how much solidarity workers at the Bike Barn can show for fellow students, citing last year’s United Auto Workers (UAW) strike. Ilupeju said that the senate was working on the issue, but that units should not have differing stances on what he labeled “social issues.” Ilupeju specifically mentioned ASUCD units displaying the flag of Palestine in their Instagram profile pictures.
Quarterly reports ended, and the senators went over their weekly activities.
Public comment ensued, with two speakers declaring their support for SB #6, and the importance of ethical spending.
The senate then discussed SB#6. The bill would make the Ethical Spending Committee (ESC) created by last year’s SB#52 into a permanent entity under the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC).
Before official debate began, the house was divided. Senators Ezra Ruben and Mia Cohen signaled that they would vote against the bill, while a few other senators indicated they were in favor of the bill.
Ruben said he liked the bill but had major concerns — many of which echoed the arguments posed by Senators Gabriel Gaysinsky and Klein during the passing of SB#52 last year. Concerns included Israeli and Jewish students feeling excluded and unable to express a positive Israeli identity, that focusing on one issue is unfair to other issues, that there might be biased decision making without guidelines and that committee members “unaffected by these issues can go home and put it aside.”
The ESC at this point has functioned since SB#52 passed and has guidelines and procedures established.
Senator Siddharth Jasthi expressed his opinions on the bill.
“I think we should keep in mind that this bill and committee is made specifically to divest the ASUCD from companies supporting human rights abuses,” Jasthi said. “The reality is that Israel is responsible for abuses. If a nation or state is committing abuses and a corporation is participating in it, divestment is called for.”
Earlier, Ruben called for a diverse set of goals to be present on the committee.
Senator Jasthi continued expressing his reasoning for supporting the bill.
“This committee is set for divestment,” Jasthi said. “Divestment is the end goal, and diverse goals on divestment when divestment is the end goal is kind of silly.”
Senator Ruben responded.
“We have to be conscious of the fact that we’re not experts,” Ruben said. “It’s naive to say that we can have the authority to speak on these things, [and] it’s not as simple to say that these corporations are committing human rights abuses. You might be right but I don’t know if it’s your right to say so.”
ASUCD President Ilupeju added his thoughts on the matter.
“This is not a controversial piece of legislation,” Ilepeju said. “How many of us here have degrees in transportation management? In dining services? How many of us are even aware of the permits? I’m assuming not many of us are aware of these things but the senate sits here and makes decisions on these things…We’re in the top 100 universities in the world. We’re not kids anymore.”
The senators voted 9-2-2, passing SB #6, with Senators Ruben and Cohen voting against the bill.
Ruben apologized repeatedly over having possibly offended others in the room.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 p.m.
Written by: Rivers Stout — campus@theaggie.org
Editor’s note: Due to sound difficulties and the absence of microphones for every speaker, there was an error reporting a statement made by Senator Klein in an earlier version of this article. He later shared a statement with The Aggie that is included in this article.
