The Associated Students Legislative Council met for this year’s inaugural meeting last night with a lengthy agenda including two action items, ten new bills and three resolutions.

While the new business addressed topics from increased publicity for the student government to a transition in the campus’ e-mail platform, nine of the proposals focused on the restructuring of existing A.S. entities and updates to their respective sections of the organizations’ legal code. As of press time, the council had yet to reach a decision on any of the measures.

During public forum, Director of Visibility and Outreach for the A.S. President Brady Forrest raised concern regarding the appointment process of Committee on Committees officers. According to Forrest, third-year Kelly Gandee — who was considered for disqualification from her position as Rep-at-Large during last year’s Spring elections in connection with allegations that members of her party served alcohol to minors — is set to be appointed a position on the COC.

The representatives were to later discuss a bill revising the selection process and terms of office for COC Chair and Committee Coordinator, specifying that the chairperson will be recommended by the IVP, appointed by the president and approved by a majority vote of the legislated council.

The current lack of transparency in A.S. proceedings makes it difficult for the organization to remain accountable to the student body, Forrest said, and discussion ensued about the lack of record of Gandee’s interview in her bid for the position.

On-Campus Rep Jonathan Abboud said though he could not produce a record, he could attest to the fairness of the process. Additionally, a candidate’s application and past are both private matters, Abboud said.

“I sat on pretty much every single interview, so I can assure you there was no fraud or special nepotism, we interviewed every person,” Abboud said. “We don’t keep minutes from interviews because it’s a safe space and it’s confidential. Also, we are not supposed to take into account somebody’s history. We cannot legally not appoint someone because of their past.”

Among other bills pending discussion were measures to increase the publicity for A.S. and remove the Office of Student Advocate from the Legislative Council office space to avoid the current possibility of the Attorney General taking action within the Judicial Council.

Finally, the council was set to pursue a resolution in support of a Gmail-based e-mail interface to replace the U-Mail system. University administration had previously come to an agreement with the previous IVP Jake Elwood that once campus web system updates have been completed, switching to Gmail will be a priority.

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