AS Senate Recap – 10/23/2024

This recap first appeared in the October 28th edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

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The AS Senate is a group of elected student representatives which serves as the policy-making body of Associated Students. Every Wednesday at 6:30 PM, the AS Senate convenes to pass bills and resolutions, hear reports from Boards, Committees, and Units (BCUs), and hold public forum.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi breaks down what happened at their most recent meeting on October 23, 2024.

Photo credit: ASUCSB Senate Facebook

• Internal Vice President Açucar Pinto returned to chair the meeting. They had previously taken time off to grieve the loss of a loved one and to focus on their health.

• Senator Alexander Arambula resigned from the Senate. This is the second resignation of the year, following the departure of Senator Joshua Medeiros after the October 9th meeting. There are now 22 Senators in the 75th Senate.

• The Senate updated provisions relating to the Elections Board in their Strategic Vision Plan. The Elections Board’s objectives focus on constitutional amendments, like redistributing the number of Senators and introducing an undocumented student Senator seat, as well as election reform, like reintroducing political parties and completely overhauling elections code (especially in regards to the recall process.)

• • The Senate is scheduled to ratify the Strategic Vision Plan at their meeting this week.
  • Listen to KCSB’s Ashley Segat’s conversation with First President Pro Tempore Dan Siddiqui about the Strategic Vision Plan here.

• A plan was proposed to address food insecurity among students. The Gaucho Food Inclusion Program (GFIP) is led by Senator Ella Yu, who said three food insecurity issues facing are “dietary restrictions, financial constraints, and unfamiliarity with local food options.” The program is targeted towards out-of-state students, students living off-campus without a meal plan, undocumented students, and international students.

• • The GFIP would provide food vouchers at their local restaurant partners. 

• • • • For instance, the vouchers could be given out to international students who stay on campus during quarterly and holiday breaks, when many vendors are typically closed.
  • The total cost of the GFIP Pilot Program is $13,500.
    • • The Senate debated over where funding for the program should come from (specifically, whether or not the Senate Unallocated funds should be used here).
  • The Senate eventually tabled the GFIP Pilot Program to the Advocacy Committee.

• The Senate heard updates on the Jewish-Muslim Alliance Committee. Senators Leah Khorsandi and Eemaan Wahidullah – the committee’s Chair and Vice Chair, respectively – said the committee had their first meeting last Wednesday. Some of their goals include the establishment of a Reflection Room, the addition of Jewish and Muslim holidays to the UCSB calendar, and the increased availability of halal and kosher food on campus. 

• • Senator Khorsandi said they would first focus on the Reflection Room project, a space where Muslim students can pray.

• • KCSB’s Joyce Chi spoke to Senators Khorsandi and Wahidullah about the committee. Listen here.

• The boycott of the 10/2 Senate meeting was discussed in a closed session. The majority of Senators had boycotted the meeting, which fell on Rosh Hashanah, in solidarity with Jewish Senators and students. Because the Senate entered a closed session, we legally cannot know what was covered during those 50 minutes of discussion.

• The Senate approved appointments and resignations for the following entities: Elections Board, Office of Senate Leadership, Committee on Committees, Black Women’s Health Collaborative, Honoraria Committee, and Senate.
• The Senate passed the following pieces of legislation:
  • A Resolution to Direct the Associate Director of Finance Regarding AS Requisition Submissions
  • A Bill to Reform and Repair Senate and BCU Relations
  • A Bill to Expand the Office of Senate Leadership
• The Senate tabled the following pieces of legislation:
  • A Bill to Add Specific Exceptions to AS Financial Policies and Procedures
  • A Bill to Reform Honoraria in ASUCSB (V2)
    • Several campus organizations criticized a provision that would add an “Outstanding BCU [Boards, Commissions, and Units] Award.” A maximum of three BCUs would be nominated for this award by the AS President. According to the bill, “all members of the outstanding BCU shall receive 200% of the honoraria for their respective BCU position.”
      • Mingjun Zha, the Senate Parliamentarian and a major contributor to the bill, said the intention of this financial award was to recognize BCUs’ work and to promote “healthy competition.”
      • The bill says when nominating BCUs, the AS President “should primarily consider the amount of direct student impact and service provided by the BCU relative to their size and budget.”
        • Some BCUs raised concerns over how student impact would be quantified and worried that larger BCUs would easily win this financial award.
          • See their feedback here.
            • Parliamentarian Zha addressed this feedback. He thanked the BCUs for their responses, but he believed that this was a case of voluntary response bias (that the results skewed to people who felt most strongly); only six out of 77 BCUs filled out the feedback form. He said he reached out to everyone who expressed their concerns and invited them to meet with him. 
          • When asked by Senator Siddiqui his thoughts on removing the entire Outstanding BCU Award provision from the bill, Parliamentarian Zha said he was “not really comfortable with that,” as it was such a main point of the bill.
      • Zha resigned as an at-large member of the Honoraria Committee during this meeting.
    • This bill was tabled to the Liaison Committee.
  • *Note: Any bill that changes bylaws is required to be tabled for one week.

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Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on Facebook here.