The Associated Students Senate External Affairs Committee (EAC) met Thursday evening in the UCen’s Goleta Valley Room to discuss two bills and upcoming events.

Off-campus Senator Michelle Moreh authored both pieces of legislature — the first, A Bill to Create Article XVIII: Isla Vista Community Space Governance of the By-Laws of the Associated Students UCSB, and the second, A Bill to Create Policy 35: The Standing Policies & Procedures of the Pardall Center of The Standing Policies and Procedures of the Associated Students of UCSB.

Moreh said specific rules on voting rights and membership subcommittees for the Pardall Center should be clearer in A Bill to Create Article XVII.

“We want to ensure that this article allows for entire Isla Vista community space governance, but we also want to make sure that anything that has to do with positions that are important or pertain to just the Pardall Center is clarified for just the Pardall Center,” Moreh said.

Moreh said an A.S. in I.V. Governance Board could potentially manage the Pardall Center if A.S. does not establish a special administration.

“I would imagine that these future spaces would have somewhat of a different charge, and if they don’t, then maybe this existing committee could manage spaces with similar missions,” Moreh said.

The committee tabled the bill to allow senators more time to become familiar with its language, according to Moreh.

“It’s something that is pretty big since we are creating something, and I just wouldn’t want anyone to come and say, ‘I don’t feel as though there was enough time for senators to look at it,’” Moreh said. “We want to create something that is going to be a model that we can work under for years to come.”

Moreh said a temporary committee comprised of members of I.V. Tenants Union (IVTU), I.V. Community Relations Committee (IVCRC) and Pardall Center staff members will continue to hold meetings Mondays at 4 p.m. beginning May 11 in the conference room of the Pardall Center to discuss the facility’s administration.

“The way that the [committee] was made was so that anyone could join and become a voting member. Ideally, we would have advertised that, but we didn’t have enough time to get the word out,” Moreh said. “Anyone can come — it is an open meeting — but those are the people currently discussing it.”

According to Moreh, the committee tabled the bill to allow for the inclusion of amendments that give IVTU and the Legal Resource Center autonomy as renting tenants of the Pardall Center.

“IVTU and LRC want to be able to have as much autonomy as possible since they are tenants and they should have the ability to run their own space,” Moreh said. “They are on the board, but we also guaranteed them that there would be something in this legislation that would say they have autonomy.”

EAC sent A Bill to Create the Standing Policies & Procedures of the Pardall Center of The Standing Policies and Procedures of the A.S. UCSB to the consent calendar.

A Bill to Create Policy 35 will foster more connections between A.S. and I.V., according to Moreh.

“It is hard because the only one is Pardall Center right now,” Moreh said. “The point is to eventually have so many different paths.”

Moreh said the bill lays out the expectations, behaviors, parking, advertising and other “dos and don’ts” for use of the Pardall Center.

“It is important to have because we have had some issues in the Pardall Center and, like any public space, there needs to be a set of policies that governs this space so that we can enforce respectful behavior,” Moreh said.

After discussing both bills, EAC moved to a discussion on campaigns to address tuition hikes and the upcoming Week of Healing to remember the events of May 23 last year.

First-year political science and Asian American studies double major Akshaya Natarajan said A.S. is using the “Dear Governor Brown” campaign and a recently released online petition to combat tuition hikes

“The petition is specifically asking Governor Brown to commit to invest $100 million in the UC system which would freeze tuition which would offset tuition hikes,” Natarajan said.

Natarajan also discussed “We’re Fucked,” a project to publicize problems caused by state disinvestment in higher education.

“Our tuition is going up, we aren’t able to pay for very basic necessities, our little brothers and little sisters won’t be able to go to college,” Natarajan said.

According to Natarajan, A.S. will soon table, host a panel discussion with faculty, share student testimonials and distribute t-shirts to educate students about Dear Governor Brown.

Second-year history of public policy major and Off-campus Senator Paola Dela Cruz said there will be an art gallery, memorial garden and other installments for the Week of Healing.

“The Parks District worked closely with the families, they made sure each bench was designed to represent each student,” Dela Cruz said.

Representative-at-large Senator Victor Garcia said the Residence Halls Association (RHA) is participating in BLUNITE, a memorial art installment made up of blue LED lights.

“RHA has actually bought 300 LED lights for each [residence] hall — so around like 2,700 lights — and they’re going to be distributed at each front desk so residents can come and pick up a light and put a light on their windowsill,” Garcia said.

EAC Chair and third-year anthropology major Carlos Lopez concluded the meeting with information about the AB 3 Sacramento Lobby Day this Wednesday. According to Lopez, organizers plan to bring I.V. residents to Sacramento to promote Assemblymember Das Williams’ I.V. self-governance bill, AB 3, before its hearing in the California State Assembly Committee on Local Government.

“We are trying to get at least 20 people to go up there to honestly show there is community-supported favor of AB 3 instead of just homeowners — who are going to drive up there because they don’t have school — to say that they don’t want it, or people that are opposed to it in general,” Lopez said.

[Correction: This article originally quoted Michelle Moreh as saying “this existing committee could manage spaces with similar commissions,” however the correct quote reads “this existing committee could manage spaces with similar missions.” The article also stated the EAC could potentially manage the Pardall Center, while Moreh in fact said an A.S. in I.V. Governance Board could be created to potentially manage the Pardall Center. The article said this was the first EAC meeting, but the committee has met on previous Mondays at 4 p.m. In addition, Moreh said the bill was tabled to allow for the inclusion of amendments to give IVTU and the Legal Resource Center the majority of power, when the amendments actually allowed IVTU and the Legal Resource Center autonomy as renting tenants.]

This story was updated as of 11:23 p.m. on May 12, 2015.

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