Student representatives passed a bill amending the duties of the Associated Students Childcare Coordinator and discussed special projects funding for the Student Commission on Racial Equality and The Bottom Line at last night’s weekly A.S. Legislative Council meeting.

S.C.O.R.E. requested $750 to cover travel costs for students attending this year’s Student of Color Conference at UC Davis from Nov. 11 to Nov. 13. While 150 UCSB students applied, only 80 were accepted to attend the conference and there is a waiting list for the event.

Representative-at-Large Nathan Walter, who serves as a liaison to Finance Board, said such allocations do not fall within the council’s duties and the representatives should assert only given governmental powers.

“I agree that this is a really important event but we are not the financial arm of A.S.; we are the legislative branch,” Walter said. “It is Finance Board that decides where the money goes. This is their territory. We don’t want to open the floodgates — what if we start doing things that Program Board is responsible for, too?”

Off-Campus Representative Mayra Segovia said such events enrich the campus community’s understanding of identity and are thus essential to its health.

“These are the things that make our campus so awesome,” Segovia said. “We are so diverse and it’s such an important conference for our students to be able to go to. Also, they are making an effort to look elsewhere for money too, so I think we should acknowledge that and what they’re trying to do and fund them.”

Although only select members of the campus community are permitted to attend the conference, A.S. Food Bank Chair Guadalupe Cruz said the chosen constituency represents the student body, and the program’s exceedingly wide scope will bring invaluable benefits back to the whole community.

“25 students that were selected are first-years and they really did pick a diverse group,” Cruz said. “Also, the conference itself is not just about students of color; it’s about everything. It’s student-led and it’s a space to bring any issue that they are dealing with and have a workshop.”

After the representatives’ votes tied at 10-10-1, Internal Vice President Chloe Stryker broke the stalemate with a vote against the measure, denying funding for SOCC.

The Bottom Line requested funding to travel to the UC Regent’s first meeting of the school year from Nov. 16 to Nov. 17.

The publication will spend $300 of its existing $500 travel budget to attend the meeting and asked for an additional $218.55 from the council’s special projects budget for food, gas and vehicle wear-and-tear for the five reporters traveling to San Francisco.

Walter moved to deny the funding and suggested the newspaper approach more appropriate sources, such as its advising organization, the KCSB Media Center. However, a motion to fund The Bottom Line $110.00 narrowly passed with an 11-10-0 vote.

The council passed a bill to restructure the duties of the A.S. Childcare Coordinator, allowing the representative to distribute money to enrolled families twice per quarter rather than once. The finances would be taken from money the Children’s Center saved from last year.

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