The Associated Students 75th Senate discussed creating a new campus bike path, providing relief for the Los Angeles wildfires and restructuring the UC Santa Barbara Recreation Center equipment replacement process at its Jan. 29 meeting. Senators also continued discussions on changing the number of senate positions and updating Associated Students’ financial systems.

The Associated Students 75th Senate discussed creating a new campus bike path, providing relief for the Los Angeles wildfires and restructuring the Recreation Center equipment replacement process. Anushka Ghosh Dastidar / Daily Nexus
Proposed changes to the Associated Students (A.S.) constitution will be voted on in a spring quarter special election. Senators also requested that administrators meet student demands to build an Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP) bike path while alleviating the need for additional lock-in fees.
The Senate also approved appointments of five new on-campus senators to fill empty senate seats, some from those who have quit this year, following a search by a senate special committee. The senators are OlaBisi Ola-Olaitan, Nadine Malhis, Amna Chaudhry, Kamela Dali and Ashley Valenzuela Balderrama. They will be sworn in this week and begin their tenure.
Senators unanimously passed a resolution to reaffirm their commitment to upgrading A.S. financial systems. This would digitize honoraria payments, bank-to-bank transactions and mobile access for student account transactions. Senate is adopting the extension module Tipalti, a platform which digitizes payments for businesses, to “improve upon the independent banking functionality of the financial operations” of A.S.
According to Senators fourth-year economics and communication double major Taylor Iden and third-year political science and philosophy double major Dan Siddiqui, A.S. is technologically behind in terms of how finances are handled, with requisitions still being done through physical checks.
The resolution comes after the digitized financial system MIP Microix Cloud platform was adopted over summer. This will allow students to sign requisitions, Boards, Coalitions and Units to manage their budgets and the senate to view the transactions of all A.S. entities online.
“Therefore, be it resolved that the Associated Students in the 75th Senate assembled directs the Associate Director for Finance & Budget, Michael Cea, and the Executive Director, Marisella Marquez, to adopt Tipalti Disbursement Software and to commit to its implementation within our current financial operations, including implementation within MIP Microix Cloud Financial System Software,” the resolution read.
The resolution requests transparency about the implementation of the systems and ongoing updates to the Senate from Cea and Márquez.
Third-year history major Enri Lala and second-year biology and political science double major Eeman Wahidullah proposed a resolution to allocate funding for a new section of campus bike path between the ILP and the UCSB Library.
Lala stated that the project had now become “plausible” and needed to secure funding. He noted that it is “not exactly clear” how much the addition will cost. There is currently no specified timeline.
“It seems like it will come out to the tune of the low millions,” he said.
Funding for the project will at least partly come from A.S. lock-in fees. Lala said he hopes new fees will not have to be added, and that UCSB administration should “at least match” the amount of funding coming from A.S. fees.
After the 2023 construction of the ILP, a large portion of the campus bike path — roughly where the ILP is located now — was removed to accommodate foot traffic. However, the lack of a bike path in that area has been criticized for the way it endangers bikers and students alike during busy parts of the day due to people cycling on the pedestrian sidewalk.
“The fact that there used to be an intersection and bike path right there and the school never put one back is extremely irresponsible on their part,” fourth-year history of art and architecture and anthropology double major Carly Lankarani said.
Additionally, senators felt that the financial burden to make a new path was wrongfully being placed on students.
“To the admin, do a better job. This is ridiculous that students have to fund this partially if it all when it’s a problem that [the administration] created,” Iden said.
The Senate passed a resolution to implement an executive order from A.S. President and third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway to establish “the Association’s Disaster Relief Response to LA County’s Wildfires.”
The executive order directs the senate to create an A.S. task force supporting victims of the Los Angeles fires. The team will be appointed by Broadway and Márquez and will mobilize “any attending AS staff” and “one Career staff member” among other A.S. entities to funnel money and resources to causes benefiting those affected by the fires.
“The Task Force is the designated entity responsible for connecting students with resources to help coordinate the distribution of financial aid, housing support, food assistance, and academic accommodations,” the order reads.
Second-year global studies major Leah Khorsandi and Lala delivered a report of their meeting with UCSB Recreation Center staff about exercise machines and the long wait times for the staff to replace such machines.
Their meeting took place on Jan. 24. Lala stated that his and Khorsandi’s motivations for the meeting were “initially very simple.”
“There’s four StairMasters at the Multi-Activity Court, at the back of the rec center, three of which have not worked since Joe Biden was in office. What’s up with that?” Lala asked the Senate.
More broadly, Lala and Khorsandi voiced concerns about the length of time the Recreation Center can take to replace basic machines, as well as the Recreation Center’s rental programs — where students must pay to use specific items like ping pong balls and paddles.
The senators proposed that in order to curtail these problems with the Recreation Center, a “quarterly report to the Senate from a senior rec cen staffer” should be presented, according to Lala and Khorsandi’s report. The reports would aim to open a more consistent dialogue between the Recreation Center and the Senate, according to Lala and Khorsandi. Their proposition has not yet been implemented.
Senators also continued discussions from last week about updates to four different articles within the A.S. Constitution.
The update to Article V suggests increasing the votes necessary for new A.S. fees from 50% plus one to 75% or higher. The bill also suggests that the vote threshold for existing lock-in fees be increased from 50% plus one to 66% or higher. According to the resolution, A.S. at UCSB charges more fees per student than any other A.S. in the country and currently holds nearly $10 million in unspent rollover funds. Senators tabled the bill indefinitely.
The bill to update Article VI of the A.S. Constitution passed with 15 votes in favor and one against. Students will have the opportunity to vote on a new senate distribution in the upcoming A.S. election. The proposal includes eight senators-at-large seats, open to any undergraduate student, two transfer senators instead of one and having four College of Letters & Science senators, one College of Engineering senator, one College of Creative Studies senator and two international senators.
Updates to Article VII restructure the powers of the A.S. executive positions. It would allow the president to exercise full authority over the branch regarding personnel decisions for non-elected officers and give the internal vice president the power to supervise all departments and entities in the Executive Branch to ensure they complete their duties, among other things. The bill passed unanimously after senate discussion.
“Associated Students executives have long been hand-tied by bureaucratic and administrative hurdles preventing them from exercising their full powers,” the resolution read. “Associated Students as an institution must rapidly advance to more effectively serve students in the wake of unprecedented times amid a new Presidential administration.”
Updates to Article X passed with eight votes in favor, two against and five abstentions. This bill proposed that adjustments to the A.S. elections schedule be granted in order to accommodate for religious holidays or natural disasters.
“General Elections shall be completed by the fifth (5th) week of the Spring quarter, unless a reasonable and timely extension is approved by a two-thirds (⅔) vote of the Senate and the Election Board in Consultation with the Executive Director. However, this extension shall not exceed the seventh (7th) week of the Spring quarter,” the resolution read.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Feb. 6, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
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