Several new officers were sworn in and seated for winter quarter 2023

By LILY FREEMAN – campus@theaggie.org

Vice President JT Eden called the meeting to order at 6:13 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1. After roll call, he read the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.

Next, Senators Celeste Palmer, Alexis Reyes and Vaneza Gonzaga and External Affairs Vice President Shruti Adusumilli all gave their farewell comments as their time on the Senate floor was up at the end of the quarter. 

“Being a part of student government and ASUCD has really shaped a lot of my college experience,” Adusumilli said. “Being on ASUCD, you truly gain a lot of learning experiences that other people would not have at such a young age while in college.” 

The seating of new officers, as well as judicial council member and interim senator confirmations, followed these farewell comments. 

Stephen Fujimoto, Jacob Klein, Zeki Xu, Aarushi Raghunathan and Erek Leschyn were all sworn in and seated as senators. 

Shrey Gupta, a first-year computer science major, was sworn in and seated as interim senator. 

Celene Aridin, a third-year international relations major, was sworn in and seated as external affairs vice president.

Logan Tatsuya Ueno, a fourth-year political science major, was sworn in and seated as the transfer student representative. 

Next, President Radhika Gawde gave the State of the Association Address. 

“People just don’t feel that ASUCD is a value,” Gawde said. “I want us to be reminded that while our wins this quarter are something to take pride in, we must do more to proactively communicate toward the student body about the important work that we do.” 

Following the address was a presentation by Jenny Vaccari, an assistant at Ombuds UC Davis, who explained how this office supports the student community. Ombuds assists UC Davis community members by listening to and helping resolve conflict, according to Vaccari, whether that be through individual meetings with Ombuds assistants or group workshops. 

Next, the Senate moved to public comments. First, Senate President Pro Tempore Gauis Ilupeju spoke about his authority in the Senate.

“Since I was elected in week six, [Eden] has been performing duties that are the responsibilities of [the President Pro Tempore],” Ilupeju said. “I have approached [Eden] on several occasions to remind him of what my responsibilities are [and] to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the matter. Altogether, he was dismissive of the comments I raised, [and] it has become increasingly apparent that the executive branch has overstepped its bounds.” 

Responding to Ilupeju’s comment directly, Eden publicly apologized for the overstepping of bounds that Ilupeju put forth, and said that he hopes to improve this partnership throughout both of their terms. Ilupeju then publicly accepted this apology. 

Next, Klein publicly commented on a different subject.

“I have heard […] that various members of the table, who I am not going to name […] have accused me of holding dual loyalty to Israel, which is an antisemitic trope,” Klein said. “I want to mention on the official record that I found it very disheartening. I do open this up for anyone [to] identify yourself as being one of these people who asked if I was holding dual loyalty. I invite you to say what you have to say now.” 

While senators did publicly apologize for what Klein has experienced, no individual identified themself as someone who made these accusations against him. 

Following public comments, several quarterly reports took place. The Campus Center for the Environment, the Mental Health Initiative, the Office of the International Student Representative, the Research and Data Committee, the Judicial Council and the Unit Relocation and Space Allocation Committee all gave presentations on the work that their respective organizations have completed over the quarter. 

The Mental Health Initiative specifically outlined that they collaborated with MannMukti to raise awareness for National Men’s Mental Health Awareness month in November and that they are looking forward to their upcoming Mental Health Conference, which will take place on Jan. 21-22, 2023. 

The Office of the International Student Representative said that this quarter, they hosted an international student welcome panel, orientation and roundtable. They also completed translations of Unitrans bus-boarding directions in Japanese and Korean. These translations are published on the Unitrans website. They plan to continue their translational work for ASUCD units in the coming quarter. 

The Judicial Council highlighted current challenges that they are facing as a body, which primarily involve understaffing. According to the report, they need a clerk and more members to more efficiently get through all legislation in the future. 

Following quarterly reports, the Senate table moved on to consider legislation. With the vacancy on the Judicial Council finally filled, a vacancy which had delayed the consideration of legislation in previous meetings, several pieces of legislation were voted on. 

SB #39, which clarifies the scope of the Aggie Housing Advocacy Committee, was assigned to Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission and the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) for review.

SB #41, which clarifies the fair use of injunctions by the Judicial Council on legislation and actions, was assigned to the IAC for review. 

Emergency SB exempts The California Aggie from submitting a quarterly report. It was passed via a 9-1-2 roll call vote.

SB #35, which amends the Elections Code to specify the roles and responsibilities of the election officer, was passed unanimously.

SB #36, which ensures compliance with the Constitution on the timeline of spring elections, was passed unanimously. 

Because the meeting was running an hour and a half behind schedule, Senator Stephen Fujimoto moved to amend the agenda so that the considerations of SB #37, SB #40 and the DRIP II amendment were postponed to the next regularly-scheduled Senate meeting. 

“People are tired,” Fujimoto said, “I do not think that in this state of mind [we] should be considering bills.” 

With seven members voting in favor of amending the agenda, two voting in opposition and three abstaining, the motion was approved. 

Eden adjourned the meeting at 12:42 a.m.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include corrected information about SB #39 and SB #41, as well as Emergency SB. A previous version of this article stated that all three of these pieces of legislation passed unanimously; however, SB #39 and SB #41 were only introduced, not voted on, at the Dec. 1 meeting, and Emergency SB passed, but not unanimously.  

Written by: Lily Freeman — campus@theaggie.org

Progress was made in negotiations between UC officials and UAW, but current UC offers regarding pay increases still do not meet the Union’s demands

By KAYA DO-KHANH — campus@theaggie.org

The largest strike in higher education history, which began on Nov. 14, has continued into its second week. Academic workers have set up picket lines on Russell Boulevard and College Park/Howard Way, as well as on Hutchison Drive and La Rue Road from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day of the work week since the strike began. 

In addition to the picket lines, other protest activities have been planned and enacted throughout the duration of the strike, including rallies, speakers and more. On the first day of the strike, there was a midday rally in front of Mrak Hall, where Chancellor Gary May’s office is located. The rally featured speakers from the Teamsters Local 2010, which represents the University of California’s (UC) skilled trades workers. There was also a sit-in inside the hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 18. 

The picketers have been fed daily by a self-organized group of academic strikers and undergraduate students, according to a recent press release, with the “strike kitchen” serving food purchased with donations and cooked on a camp stove, as well as baked goods, fruit and vegetables that community members have dropped off. 

The unions, United Auto Workers (UAW) 2865, Student Researchers United (SRU-UAW) and UAW 5810 are demanding an annual pay increase from $24,000 to a minimum of $54,000. Students on the picket lines at UC Davis, such as fourth-year physics Ph.D. candidate Samantha Abbott, said that their wages do not support the growing cost of living, as most academic workers are spending 50% to 60% of their monthly paycheck on rent.

“I hope to see a fair contract,” Abbott said. “We have been underpaid for a long time. I hope to be able to pay less than 30% of my paycheck to rent […] I want to be able to come home everyday and feel like the work that I am doing is actually valued and that I don’t have to spend my time and energy outside of school trying to keep my life in order because I have the proper resources from the school that controls almost every aspect of my life. I want them to empower me to be able to do the things that they ask of me.” 

Since the strike began, a number of classes have been canceled or moved online, disrupting undergraduate education. There have been disruptions to the Unitrans Memorial Union bus terminal, due to the picket line on Russell Boulevard and College Park/Howard Way, making it difficult for some students to arrive to class on time. However, there has still been undergraduate support on the picket lines, according to Abbott. 

“I had some anxiety, to be honest, that some students would think that I was betraying them,” Abbott said. “But they were all extremely supportive. They wanted to see me and all of the other TAs be actually paid for what we do.” 

On Nov. 18, ASUCD released a letter acknowledging the impact that strike action has had on undergraduate education and asking administrators to make emergency changes to typical policy as a result.

The statement calls upon the Executive Council of Academic Senate, which, according to the letter, is charged with “[taking] measures to cope with [emerging problems] before they become urgent,” to convene an emergency session in order to consider an extension of the Pass/No Pass grading option and a recommendation to faculty to utilize virtual exams and waive attendance-based components of final grades for the remainder of the quarter.

“The largest work stoppage at any academic institution in history and the impact thereof on the undergraduate student body surely constitutes an urgent circumstance,” the letter reads.

On Nov. 15, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in the UC Office of President Michael Brown sent a letter to inform faculty of the university’s latest updates on negotiations and information on significant areas of disagreement. 

“Under our current proposals, our academic student employees would be among the highest compensated among public universities in the Association of American Universities (AAU), with compensation similar to what top private institutions offer,” the letter from Brown reads. 

Brown said that the university has reached tentative agreements with the UAW on areas such as work environment and health and safety matters, but there are still areas that separate them from the union’s proposal. Areas of separation include the proposal to tie compensation directly to local housing costs and waiving out-of-state tuition for international and other non-resident graduate students. 

“Tying compensation directly to housing costs […] could have overwhelming financial impacts on the University,” the letter from Brown reads. “One review of the Union’s proposal predicts an annual unfunded obligation of at least several hundred million dollars, with inflationary pressure and no cap.”

On Nov. 17, the union representing academic workers said there was progress made in negotiations with UC officials on issues of parking and transit, job security provisions and paid time off, but the UC’s slight increase in terms of compensation does not meet their demands, according to an article from the Los Angeles Times. 

The new offer indicates a raise of around $132 per month for student researchers, which would result in the average worker paying 56% of their income on rent. 

“We still think this is far from sufficient,” President of UAW 2865 Rafael Jaime said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. 

On Nov. 28 at 11:31 p.m., the University of California (UC) and UAW 5810, the union representing two of the striking units, academic researchers and postdoctoral students, reached a tentative agreement on contracts for the two parties. 

However, the members of UAW have decided to continue to strike in solidarity until the two remaining units, academic student employees and student researchers, come to an agreement with the UC.

The UC proposed that the university and unions engage with a third-party mediator as they move forward in negotiations, according to Brown, and in the evening of Dec. 9, the UC Office of the President sent out a letter officially announcing that after “multiple requests […] the UAW has accepted our invitation to join us in mediation with a neutral third party.”

The most recent offer to academic student employees and graduate student researchers as of Dec. 9, according to the letter, includes salary increases totaling 12.5% to 48.4% over three years, and also addresses child care reimbursements, transit subsidies and health care premiums. 

Mediation is confidential, according to the letter, and during the process, neither party will be allowed to speak publicly about the negotiations. The letter went on to say that a timeline for mediation will be decided on soon. Until then, the strike of 48,000 UC academic workers persists. 

Written by: Kaya Do-Khanh — campus@theaggie.org

This is a developing story, check back for updates. This article was last updated on Dec. 10 at 11:38 p.m.