A.S. Senate passes bills to establish student councils, redefine S.T.A.R.K. funds, and create a digital database. John Clow/Daily Nexus
The Associated Students (A.S) Senate met Wednesday evening in the Flying A Room in the UCen to discuss three bills.
Senate voted on and passed “A Bill to Establish a Student Council for the College of Creative Studies (CCS) and College of Engineering (CoE)” and “A Bill to Reform the Science, Technology, Aerospace and Research Kapital (S.T.A.R.K.) Fund” and moved “A Bill to Promote Increased Transparency in A.S.” to the Campus Affairs Committee. Public forum included first-year CCS music composition major Jordan Mitchell and Senate Coordinator and Director of Accountability Michelle May. Senators also provided a report of the “Breakfast with Librarians.”
Mitchell said he supports the creation of the CCS and CoE student council to improve campus representation in A.S.
“It is within our rights as an underrepresented college to be equally represented in university and student affairs at UCSB,” Mitchell said. “It will provide crucial space for CCS representation, helping [allow us] to do much more things.”
May said each senator must fulfill their senate responsibilities as outlined in the A.S. legal code.
“You all must undertake four or five projects this year,” May said. “And one must be a group project.”
According to Internal Vice President and fourth-year sociology major Kimia Hashemian, senators had previously discussed the potential features of the new library space during the “Breakfast with Librarians” event.
“The students wanted more outlets, so we are giving them outlets.” Hashemian said. “Another thing they’re really interested in — Senator [Jerel] Constantino brought this up — is e-books, so e-coursereaders, since textbook affordability is number one in their priority.”
Off-campus senator and second-year undeclared major Natalie Jordan said she talked with librarians about creating resource centers, such as a space for mental health services in the library.
“There’s going to be a transfer center in the inside of the library,” Jordan said. “They were super unwilling to have C.A.P.S. [Counseling & Psychological Services] — they wanted it to be strictly a study space.”
The consent calendar was passed during this meeting, which included “A Bill to Create a Self-Care Portion for the Declaration of Candidacy Meeting,” “A Resolution to Create a Group Project For the Alternative Transportation Project,” “A Resolution to Create an Ad-Hoc Committee to Fill the Vacant On-Campus Senator Positions” and “A Resolution in Support of a Student Advisor Position to the UC Board of Regents and UC Regent Avi Oved’s Shared Governance Proposals.”
Off-campus senator and third-year history of public policy and political science double-major Jerel Constantino presented Austin Hechler’s bill “A Resolution to Make A.S. More Transparent,” which outlines the plan to improve A.S transparency through creating a digital database for important documents, including reports, minutes, bills, resolutions, projects and other related documents.
A version of this story appeared on page 12 of the Thursday, October 22, 2015 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
