ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Jan. 28 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room.

Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m.

Joe Chatham, ASUCD president, absent

Chris Dietrich, ASUCD vice president, present

Abrham Castillo-Ruiz, ASUCD senator, present

Joemar Clemente, ASUCD senator, present

Justin Gold, ASUCD senator, present

Don Ho, ASUCD senator, present

Joel Juarez, ASUCD senator, present

Andre Lee, ASUCD president pro-tempore, present

Levi Menovske, ASUCD senator, present

Kevin Massoudi, ASUCD senator, present

Bree Rombi, ASUCD senator, present

Shawdee Rouhafza, ASUCD senator, present

Trevor Taylor, ASUCD senator, present

Previn Witana, ASUCD senator, present

Appointments and Confirmations

The senate approved Amaan Shaikh as the Academic Affairs Commission (AAC) Chair.

The senate approved Sing Wang, Jennifer Giang, Ashley Matson and Kate Rockwell to the Gender and Sexuality Commission (GASC).

The senate approved Edward Montelongo and Jason Pabón to the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission (ECAC).

The senate approved Sabrina Dias, Crista Thomas, Alexandra Pietrzyk and Chris Hong to their respective Freshman Outreach, Service, Environment and Arts and Performance positions of the Outreach Assembly (OA).

Consideration of Old Legislation

Senate Bill 32, authored by Chen, co-authored by Daniel Fontaine, Joshua Mezhvinsky, Melanie Maemura and Eli Yani, and introduced by Taylor, to implement the Long Range Plan for AGTV, was passed unanimously.

Elected Officer Reports

Ho stated that he met with Will Klein and found that the idea of edible gardens has not been eliminated, but may need to be scaled down. Plans to place the gardens atop the roofs of Cuarto have been canceled due to safety concerns and to retain space for the proposed installation of solar panels.

Ex-Officio Reports

Quinten Voyce, OA speaker, stated that there are still five OA positions open on its website.

Other Business

Dietrich introduced a document entitled ASUCD-Aggie Pack Memorandum of Understanding to clarify what ASUCD should receive in exchange for financing the Aggie Pack and also improved voter turnout. The memorandum was well-received but was tabled for revision in light of suggestions from the senate.

Voyce stated that the OA will be having its first leadership fair on March 10.

Amy Hartstein, chair of the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC), stated that Feb. 11 will be Singles’ Awareness Night, a fundraiser event held at The Grad.

Juarez stated that Financial Aid Awareness Week will be kicking off this week with performances from Gunrock and Band-uh.

Jeff Williams of the Business and Finance Commission (BAF) stated that it has one alternate opening.

Public Announcements

Jasmine Smith, chair of the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission (ECAC), announced that there will be an event this Friday called Filipino Time at Davis High School, which will showcase talents from Filipino culture to raise money for three scholarships.

Rombi announced that the Master Plan meeting will be on Tuesday starting at 9 a.m.

Gold announced that he will be having an open committee meeting on Wednesday at approximately 7:15 p.m. to talk about the blood drive forum symposium.

Public Discussion

Sarah Raridon of GASC stated that Generation Sex week will be held Feb. 8 to 12, and will feature a sex toy workshop and serve as a lead-up to the Vagina Monologues, which will be performed at the Veterans Memorial Theater on Feb. 12 and 13.

Smith stated that ECAC’s Peace training will be held on the week of Feb. 8.

Meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.

ARNOLD LAU compiles the senate briefs. He can be reached atcampus@theaggie.org.

Last year, Jesse Cheng walked by an application open on a computer screen to be student regent-designate 30 minutes before it was due. He thought, why not?

Now Cheng works with the UC Regents as the student regent-designate, preparing to serve as the board’s only student with voting powers next year. He attends the mandated six board meetings and gets his tuition and fees waived for his fourth year at UC Irvine.

With all of the university’s economic problems, Cheng applied knowing the university needed all the help it could get.

“I’d like to offer everything I have to the university in terms of advocacy and connecting with students,” Cheng said.

In his visit to the UC Davis campus last Friday, Cheng met with various administrators and students. Among those he met with included a group of approximately seven students who gathered to discuss the future of student activism.

“He was a very interesting person because he was with the students 100 percent,” said Sergio Blanco, a junior political science major who met with Cheng on Friday. “It seemed like we were really on the same page. And the fact that he took time to set up that meeting shows that he’s on our side.”

Cheng wants to fight for accessibility, affordability and diversity in the university, but acknowledges that it will be tough unless more people join the fight for more resources.

“I’m always impressed with the quality of our student regents, and very pleased to serve with Jesse on the board,” said UC President Mark Yudof in a public statement about the selection of Cheng.

Since there is so much discussion between the two students before every regent vote, the student regent’s vote is largely influenced by the student regent-designate, Cheng said.

Since becoming a regent, Cheng’s view of the university system has greatly changed.

“It feels like my brain is splitting open,” he said. “You’re forced to take on facts you never knew or don’t want to know.”

Cheng believes he and the current student regent, Jesse Bernal, maintain a significant role in the regents’ decision-making. Students have never been so influential, he said.

According to Cheng, the student protests of September, November and December have caused big decision makers to think about the students more. They would wonder if their decision might make a group of students show up on their doorsteps, Cheng said.

While Cheng didn’t necessarily enjoy seeing the protests unfold, he acknowledged that they were important.

“I’d like to see more student activism,” he said. “Make noise. Make action. Just don’t damage property and don’t hurt people.”

Up until the incident at the UC Berkeley chancellor’s house in December, when eight were arrested for vandalism and attempted arson on the occupied building, student protestors had a lot of credibility, he said.

“I think in 2009 we had the right to express our anger, pain and hurt,” he said. “This is 2010. We need to think about how to move forward and move out of that resentment and towards progress.”

Cheng doesn’t find the regents to blame for the university’s current crises.

“If the regents were really such bad managers, we would have found out a long time ago,” he said.

He maintains that many things have contributed to the situation, and it is not just the regents’ or the state’s fault.

“I love demonizing Sacramento a little bit … but when I’m honest with myself, I can’t say that,” he said. “That body of legislature did make a lot of decisions that led us up to this point. In some ways it’s the voters of California made decisions that led us to this point.”

Applications to be the next student regent-designate are due Feb. 18 to the chancellor’s office. No experience is necessary, and the job is especially great for those interested in politics, policymaking, healthcare or investments, he said.

LAUREN STEUSSY contributed to reporting. JANELLE BITKER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Davis Dollars is UC Davis graduate Nick Barry’s idea for making the already strong Davis community even stronger.

The idea is fairly simple. People or businesses would buy 10 Davis Dollars for $9.50 and use it for something locally offered. Skilled people offering services would post on DavisDollars.org – currently under construction – for others to find and buy the product or service.

The concept of community currency is not a new one, but remains rare enough that the introduction of Davis Dollars would put Davis on a small but growing list of cities that have branched off from traditional money like U.S. dollars and credit cards for local exchanges.

“For example, you might buy some [Davis Dollars] … then look around for someone who can help you with economics tutoring, or bike repairs,” Barry said. “This means, of course, that you need not ‘buy in;’ you can ‘earn in’ by simply offering your services for Davis Dollars.”

Proponents of Davis Dollars point to Davis’ strong sense of community as one of the qualities that make it a good city to launch an alternative currency, and believe its coherent geographic boundaries help tangibly unite its citizens.

Nick Williams is the president of Anacostia Hours, a local currency organization in Maine that helped inspire Davis Dollars. He considers Davis a good setting for this kind of community-based project. Anacostia Hours’ success has helped provide Barry with a model for how Davis Dollars would work.

In an interview with Metro Connection Radio, Williams says that 60 to 100 people each year sign up in the relatively small city of Anacostia and spend their Hours on local stores and on each other, for small services that enhance the “communitarian” aspect of the currency.

This is the principle that inspired Barry to attempt Davis Dollars.

The economics of Davis Dollars are less important to the team than the social and environmental benefit of such local exchanges, said Nuseng Cha, a senior economics major who is interning for Barry.

“We’re trying to focus on things like front-lawn gardens and other green services,” Cha said. “We’ve spoken to a number of businesses downtown and they are interested, but there is hesitation as well.”

The sources of the reluctance are varied. Some businesses can’t support a community currency because too many of their payments are made outside the city. Others have such small margins of profit that the small discount on Davis Dollars can result in a loss when exchanged for U.S. currency.

Cha pointed out another possible problem: competition.

“Downtown businesses also use the Downtown Davis Gift Card,” said Cha. “When we talked to some of them, they mentioned that the card wasn’t being taken up as quickly as originally hoped, so maybe that makes them nervous about trying another similar idea.”

Regardless, the Davis Dollars team is continuing its project and has plans for several pilot launches in the next few months.

Interested readers are encouraged to check out davisdollars.wordpress.com for more information. People who would like to become involved with the project should e-mail thedavisdollars@gmail.com.

BRIAN GERSON can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

As ASUCD President Joe Chatham and Vice President Chris Dietrich near the end of their term, three new candidates vie for the soon-to-be vacant executive office.

The three presidential hopefuls are Jack Zwald of LEAD and independent candidates Greg Webb and Sergio Blanco.

One of the contenders, junior international relations major Jack Zwald, claims to bring both an understanding of complex ASUCD dynamics as well as an unmatched level of experience to the position.

“[I’m an] effective moderate negotiator and I know how to manage the system,” he said.

Zwald served a term as an ASUCD senator from 2008 to 2009, during which he coauthored the successful External Representation Amendment along with ASUCD Controller Eli Yani. Zwald also authored Senate Bill 30, which aimed to achieve greater budget transparency.

Previn Witana, current ASUCD senator and president pro tempore, is Zwald’s running mate. Zwald said Witana, a senior molecular and cellular biology major, is an experienced leader and has a strong interest in the “underrepresented” science community.

Zwald and Witana’s main campaign platforms include a reduction of minimum progress requirements from 13 to 12 units, an opt-in tutoring program which would utilize administrators, cooperation with local businesses that wish to invest in UC Davis, increased entertainment opportunities on campus and revamping the campus’ wasteful sprinkler system.

“Presidents typically walk a fine line between being an antagonist of the administration or [being] in their laps,” Zwald said. “I’ll be in the middle. At the end of the day, [I’m trying] to do a good job for the students.”

Another candidate for office is senior political science and economics double major Greg Webb. Webb, who ran three consecutive unsuccessful senate campaigns prior to this presidential bid, hopes to bring his unique experience to the table.

“The problem with experience is if you’re an ASUCD insider, you don’t understand the outside perspective,” he said. “I’ve always been able to raise issues and make sure the senate is addressing issues [important to] the student body.”

Webb’s vice presidential pick, sophomore Jessica Martin, is a member of the ASUCD Outreach Assembly. Webb said Martin brings a fresh perspective to their diverse ticket.

Among their primary campaign goals are advocating for a repeal of the 32 percent fee increase, ensuring that ASUCD lobbies for budget reform with the state government in Sacramento, facilitating internal reform of ASUCD especially within the Outreach Assembly and working to improve the ASUCD website so that it features senate bills in their full text.

“I’ve always been an agenda-setter. [Even] without a formal title, I’ve been very successful at raising issues,” Webb said. “I’m a big advocate for open government and, while I have opinions, I must run on issues that [the students and I] jointly agree on.”

The last candidate for the presidency is senior political science and Spanish double major Sergio Blanco. Blanco, who served as a senator in his sophomore year. Blanco worked on a bill that sought to expand foreign languages on campus while an intern of then-senator Ivan Carrillo, who later became ASUCD president.

Running alongside Blanco is Vishakha Patel, a junior sociology major with an emphasis in law and society. Patel, who was involved with ASUCD outreach unit Pathfinder before its discontinuance, is also a peer advisor with the Education Opportunity Program.

Although Blanco and Patel missed the deadline to turn in their notice of candidacy, the Elections Committee voted in favor of allowing the team to run.

“[There was] a compelling student interest in allowing candidates to run in an election, especially in light of their completed student petition that clearly indicated the intent of the candidates to run and the endorsement of a significant number of students,” said Nick Sidney, elections committee chair in a public statement.

One of his and Patel’s main issues, Blanco said, is ASUCD support for student causes, such as the Mrak Hall protests.

“There needs to be representation of my constituency,” he said. “I’m not about politics. I’d rather be at student group meetings knowing what’s going on than at senate meetings engaging in disrespectful bickering [that] takes away from the real issues.”

The issues they hope to address consist of increasing retention rates in order to protect the value of a UC Davis education, expanding tutoring services through a partnership with the Learning Skills Center, creating a workshop for first generation college students that teach them what services they have available, gaining more space for studying during finals week and sponsoring the fundraisers of student organizations so that they can turn a better profit.

“I’m not a politician, I’m a community organizer,” Blanco said. “I don’t feel like anyone else running right now understands the issues. We don’t just know about the issues, we are doing something about them because my goals are not my goals, they are the students’ goals.”

Polling will be open from Feb. 17 through 19 on the ASUCD elections web page.

KYLE SPORLEDER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.