ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at 6:10 p.m. Times listed are according to the clock at the Oct. 30 meeting location, the Memorial Union’s Mee Room.

Meeting called to order at 6:11 p.m.

Ivan Carrillo, ASUCD president, present, left early at 6:30 p.m, returned at 7:50 p.m., left and then returned at 8:45 p.m, left at 9:00 p.m.

Molly Fluet, ASUCD vice president, present

Lula Ahmed-Falol, ASUCD senator, present

Andrew Bianchi, ASUCD senator, present

Sergio Blanco, ASUCD senator, present

Joe Chatham, ASUCD senator, arrived at 6:16 p.m

Chris Dietrich, ASUCD senator, present

Rebecca Lovell, ASUCD senator, present

Erica Oropeza ASUCD senator pro tempore, present

Chad Roberts, ASUCD senator, not present

Jesse Rosales, ASUCD senator, present

Ramneek Saini, ASUCD senator, present, left early at 8:05 p.m.

Rebecca Schwartz, ASUCD senator, present

Tracy Zeng, ASUCD senator, present

Appointments and confirmations

Academic Affairs Commission

Sara Krause, junior history major

Jaciel Pacheco

Experimental College Unit Director

Olivia Siegel

Environmental Policy and Planning Commission

Erik Jaszewski, sophomore managerial economics

Chief Justice of the Court

Melissa Whittney

Consideration of old legislation

Senate Bill 11, authored by Fariha Naveed introduced by Blanco, will allocate $500 from Senate Reserves to the Middle Eastern/South Asia (MESA) retreat to take place Nov. 14 to 16, passed unanimously.

Senate Resolution 8, seen as urgent, authored and introduced by Ahmed-Falol, co-authored by Marisol Ornelas, will urge UC Davis Student Housing to institute a Native Academic Themed Program, which would be the first in the UC system, passed unanimously.

Senate Resolution 7, authored by Brian Kim and introduced by Zeng, will support Measure N on the Nov. 2008 ballot which would give Davis residents the option to implement a choice voting system and make Davis a charter city, passed 7-0-5. Dietrich, Chatham and Rosales abstained.

ASUCD Constitutional Amendment 26, authored by Amy Hartstein and introduced by Dietrich, will eliminate all references to the Student Government Adviser from the ASUCD Constitution, as the adviser position was cut from the budget, passed unanimously.

Public announcements

Rosales announced a hunter’s safety course, sponsored by Alpha Gamma Rho, an agricultural-interest fraternity.

Harstein announced the ASUCD senator elections forum at the ASUCD Coffee House, taking place Nov. 9 at noon.

ASUCD went into a closed session at 9:29 p.m. and the meeting was called back into session at 10:33 p.m.

Other Business

Fluet spoke to the Senate about accountability, sticking to bylaws and the constitution – in particular Chapter 13, making sure senators check in for their office hours, go to at least one commission meeting every week and introduce legislation before Thursday. She also announced that the president and vice president will start holding office hours and that senators should be attending every meeting unless they have an excused absence as well as maintain respectful behavior during meetings.

Lovell said one of her platform issues of getting printers at the ARC would probably not happen.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:08 p.m.

ANGELA RUGGIERO compiles the Senate Briefs. She can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

Finding a parking space at the garage near the Memorial Union may be harder than normal for a couple weeks while the structure undergoes lighting improvements.

The North Entry Parking Structure is going through a light replacement project that aims to save energy, money and provide patrons with a safer and better-lit structure.

The project, which began Oct. 28 and is expected to take three weeks to one month, will change all the garage’s old light bulbs to more energy-efficient, motion-sensored lights in an effort to reduce the campus‘ carbon footprint.

“We realized that some of the technology out there has bulbs that last up to 10 times longer,” said Chris Cioni, the Facilities Management Associate director. “We wouldn’t have to maintain those burnt out light bulbs which reduce maintenance costs, as well as making the campus more reliable and safer.”

Transportation and Parking Services will be closing approximately 50 to 70 parking spaces per day in order to complete the project. Signage will be posted at the entry of the structure to inform patrons which levels and parking spots will be affected that day, according to the press release.

The new bulbs use motion-sensors to detect movement within 20 to 30 feet to turn on to full capacity. If no motion is detected after roughly five minutes, the lights will reduce to 50 percent capacity, Cioni said.

“What is key here is that people think that if you’re going to conserve, you’re going to have to do without,” Cioni said. “In this case, we are saving energy, providing more energy sufficient methods that cost less to maintain.”

The improvements to the structure are expected to save approximately $25,000 per year. Plans to expand the light replacement project to other parking structures – including the upper level of the Mondavi Center structure – could cost upwards of $800,000. However, Cioni expects $300,000 in energy rebate funds to offset the cost of the program.

Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS), in partnership with the California Lighting and Technology Center, Facilities Management, UC Davis Police Department and PG&E have come together to make this project possible.

“In terms of the public, it is more reliable and is better quality lighting,” Cioni said.

Changes to the parking structure can already be seen with the new bright lights and some are already enjoying the benefits.

“It’s brighter in here, [the lights] are better,” said Anna Garcia Bernal, a junior managerial economics major who was parking her car in the newly lit structure. “The yellow [lights] are kind of dimmed. It probably saves a lot of energy and it’s not as dark anymore.”

Signs near the metered parking read that the lights “last up to 80,000 plus hours longer than previous lamp types.”

Cioni said that eventually, all the parking structures and surface level parking lots will undergo light changes, with aims to finish the project by next July.

For more information about the project and parking spot closures, e-mail smart-energy@ucdavis.edu.

ANGELA RUGGIERO can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.

The leaves start changing colors, the air is crisp and it is already that time of year again – flu season.

Student Health Services is offering vaccination clinics this week available to all registered students – no appointments are required. Students on the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) can receive the vaccine for a reduced price of $25 and all other students with private plans can get it for $35. Charges will be billed to students‘ campus accounts. Students who cannot make the clinic times are encouraged to schedule an individual appointment.

The health center advises all healthy people to get vaccinated, either with the flu shot or the FluMist – an intranasal spray. The spray is a good option for healthy individuals ages 2 to 49 who are not pregnant.

Unlike the injection, the spray is a live vaccine that requires one spray in each nostril. Both options are equally effective and safe, said Maureen Greenhagen, RN, patient care manager at the Cowell Health Center.

Medical director Thomas Ferguson said that in the past, the Center for Disease Control recommended prioritizing high-risk individuals, such as those with asthma and heart disease, but now the recommendation is for almost everyone to get the vaccine.

Although research does not give a guarantee that the vaccine will prevent the flu, Greenhagen said people who do develop the flu will experience milder symptoms.

“In fact, you still can get flu with the vaccine but symptoms will be milder and shorter duration which is why for students it’s such a plus,” she said.

Because college students tend to be in close proximity with others and lacking in sleep, they are very susceptible to the virus, Greenhagen said. Lecture halls, dorms and parties are easy places to pick up the flu.

“People tend to be more in close quarters because they can’t be outdoors as much [in the winter],” Greenhagen said. “Viruses just tend to spread faster when people are indoors more.“

She suggests the first thing students should always remember to do to avoid the flu is to wash their hands. Plenty of sleep, physical activity and practicing good nutrition are also important. People should cover their mouths when they cough and stay at home if they are sick to avoid spreading the illness. Students are vulnerable because they are in every situation people are told to avoid, she said.

“Our flu season is typically late in the year, November and on to February or March, but the peak is often after the students return from Thanksgiving,” Ferguson said. “They get exposed at home. That’s a bad timing for academics because that’s right before finals.“

Symptoms are sudden and include body aches in joints, extreme fatigue, weakness, dry cough, nasal congestion, general upper respiratory symptoms and high fever. All symptoms do not necessarily have to be present to be considered the flu. They last from a few days to a week and may be mild or severe.

“On the onset you can feel fine one day and the next days feel like you were hit by a truck,” Greenhagen said.

Ferguson strongly recommends staying home if sick, since the flu is easy to spread.

“When [students] get sick they have a high fever, muscle pain, a runny nose and severe cough,” Ferguson said. “Typically they feel so fatigued they have to stay home from school. If they don’t stay at home they can spread it, especially if they cough or touch somebody because the virus gets on your skin.“

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people who should consult a physician before getting vaccinated are those with severe allergies to chicken eggs, severe reaction to an influenza vaccination, those who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome within six weeks of receiving the vaccine and children less than six months of age. People who currently have an illness with a fever should wait until they recover to get vaccinated.

Greenhagen said that the Health Center gives anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 vaccines but would like to see more. At last Thursday’s clinic there were over 150 students, which is twice the number of people who have been to a single clinic in the past.

Of the couple hundred people who were tested at the health center for influenza A and/or B last year, there were 80 positive cases. There were no recent fatalities due to influenza.

The more people who get vaccinated, the less likely an epidemic will spread, Ferguson said.

“We have outbreaks every year and a lot of its preventable,” Ferguson said. “Interference with school is very high. It presents a nuisance for students. If they do get sick we can take care of them at the Health Center and talk to them about starting a medicine. But we recommend they stay home until their symptoms [go away].“

UC Davis Health Services holds clinics annually.

“Last year, we had a pretty good turnout,” said Justin Lok, Health Information and Outreach coordinator. “We had to reorder vaccine several times though the season.“

POOJA KUMAR can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com. 

The Causeway Classic football showdown between UC Davis and Sac State takes place this weekend, but impatient students can get an early start on the competition off the field starting Tuesday.

BloodSource, a Sacramento-based blood bank and research center, is adding a twist to this year’s event by hosting a contest to see which school can register the most blood donors before Saturday’s big game.

“Basically [UC Davis] is in a competition with Sac State to get the most registered blood donors by Saturday,” said Anna Pfuff, the UCD student coordinator for the event. “The winning school will receive a ‘perpetual trophy’ which will be then awarded to each year’s winner, since we plan on making this an annual event.”

BloodSource will be at Freeborn Hall Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. but students can donate anytime before Saturday, Pfuff said.

“People that aren’t able to donate on campus can go to the Davis BloodSource location on Hanover drive and make a donation in UCD’s name,” she said. “That still counts towards the competition.”

The idea for the Causeway blood-drive came about as a fun way to get more students involved in donating, said Kate Blake, BloodSource account manager and director of the event.

“College campuses really give us a great opportunity in terms of working with donors and educating the population about the importance of donating,” she said. “The biggest reason that people say they do not give blood is because they have never been asked.… We hope that the competition aspect will motivate more students to become donors.”

In addition to helping out their community and supporting UCD, students have some additional incentive to donate. Everyone that registers to give blood this week will receive a T-shirt, a ticket to the Sacramento IMAX theater and will be entered to win a free iPod from ASUCD. On top of that, the sorority or fraternity house with the most donors will receive a flat screen television, Pfuff said.

Sac State already started registering donors with two days of blood drives last week. As of now they have slightly over 1,000 donors and will add to that number with two smaller drives today and Thursday. However, UC Davis has plenty of room to catch up, Blake said.

“UC Davis usually registers about 1,200 students in two days, which is a little more than Sac State usually does,” she said. “The final number should be very close so it should be an exciting competition.”

Though BloodSource primarily works within the northern California region, donations are often sent to locations all over the nation, Blake said.

“[BloodSource] serves 47 different hospitals in 26 counties extending from Reno all the way to the Bay Area,” she said. “However, in the past we have sent blood to wherever it has been needed the most. This includes locations hit by natural disasters like Hurricane Ike and even Iraq.”

Though the process of drawing blood takes usually no more than 10 minutes, students should plan to spend about an hour going through the whole process of donating, including the time it takes to register and test their iron levels, Blake said.

“[Donating blood] is perfectly safe for the average college student,” she said. “We do ask that donors refrain from strenuous activity for about 72 hours after donating but other than that, they should be able to go about their daily activities normally.”

Other good tips for ensuring a pleasant donating experience include getting a good night’s rest, drinking lots of fluids prior to and after donating, and eating iron-rich foods such as red meat, fish and leafy green vegetables, according to the Red Cross Website.

Erica Lee can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.