At their Wednesday night meeting, Associated Students Legislative Council voted to support an Academic Senate proposal — signed by 17 UCSB professors — that seeks to ban military recruiters from the campus.

Leg Council’s resolution, sponsored by Off-campus Rep. Adam Graff, urged the UCSB Academic Senate to act upon the proposal, drafted by sociology Professor Emeritus Thomas J. Scheff. In the resolution, the council also recommended UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang “bar military recruiters from campus.” The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is highly discriminatory toward homosexuals, Scheff said to the council during its public comment period.

“If I were to join a fraternity and they said, ‘I won’t ask if you are Jewish and don’t tell us if you are,’ I would feel insulted and discriminated against,” he said, “Some campuses have already banned military recruiters. Harvard University, for example, does not allow military recruiters on their campus.”

In his last minute effort to garner support from A.S. for the proposal, Scheff asked the council to amend its agenda to hold a vote to support or oppose the proposal before the next meeting of the Academic Senate in March.

Scheff said professor Walter Yuen, chair of the Academic Senate, chose not to put the proposal on Academic Senate’s next meeting in March. Scheff said Yuen wanted more time for faculty, staff and student input. Leg Council’s support would help to get the proposal on the senate’s agenda, he said.

Because of the short notice, On-Campus Rep. Raymond Meza had to hand write a resolution that supported Scheff’s proposal.

But Leg Council voted to amended Meza’s resolution, removing two clauses regarding a review of ROTC at UCSB that would check if the program is in agreement with the university’s non-discrimination policies. Council members said they wanted to wait for more information before supporting a review of ROTC.

Meza disapproved with the council’s rewording of his resolution and withdrew his sponsorship to the resolution.

“I felt that my original bill was gutted to not include an issue that was linked with military recruitment,” Meza said.

The dispute over the removal of the two clauses prolonged the meeting. Internal Vice President (IVP) Andrea Wells called for a 10-minute recess while A.S. Executive Director Don Daves-Rougeaux checked the rules governing if another council member can adopt a resolution after its original author withdraws it.

Daves-Rougeaux said once a resolution is presented to the council by the IVP, its author couldn’t withdraw it without approval from the entire group. Graff picked-up Meza’s resolution, with amendments, and the council approved it.

In other business, Leg Council also approved a ballot measure for upcoming A.S., which would raise lock-in fees for the Environmental Affairs Board from $0.25 cents to $1.25 per quarter per undergraduate.

Environmental Affairs Board Co-Chair Aaron Gillian explained to the legislative council why EAB’s lock-in fee should be increased.

“We are arguably one of the biggest and most active programs on campus,” he said. “We need the money for our Education for Sustainability Program.”

Gillian said the program was started last year and is a lecture series where students can design their own courses and lead them. The courses include research and implementing environmentally oriented projects on campus, Gillian said.

The council also approved a motion to allow the university to remove $35,000 from A.S. capital reserves to replace the current locks in the A.S. building with electronic keys. Graff said the change would save the organization money in the long run.

“In the past we’ve had problems with people losing the metal keys or not returning them,” he said. “Doing this digitally would [prevent] this from ever happening again.”

Graff also said that every time the keys are lost, the university has to create new locks. The electronic key system would allow A.S. members to enter the A.S. building with the electronic strip of their student access cards, he said.

A resolution to allow UCSB student Adam Tartakovsky to run for A.S. liaison for the Education Abroad Program was withdrawn. Tartakovsky is currently studying at Televiv University outside of jurisdiction of the Education Abroad Program.

An initiative to increase lock-in fees for the Community Affairs Board was tabled because its creator, Chaz Whatley, was not present to present the bill.

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