Several Associated Students entities expressed frustration with a proposal that aimed to change how they conduct their recruitment processes at an April 9 Senate meeting. The Senate also heard reports about Deltopia and student experiences with law enforcement.
All BCUs were invited to a town hall on April 14 to discuss the proposal further. Nexus File Photo
The entities, Boards, Committees and Units (BCUs), are student-led groups under Associated Students (A.S.) and are funded by student fees.
Six BCUs and the office of the External Vice President for Local Affairs (EVPLA) spoke during public comment against proposed changes to the BCU recruitment process, which was ultimately not voted on during the meeting.
An email sent by third-year film and media studies major and Senator Sandhya Ganesh at 11:22 a.m. — approximately seven hours before the meeting at 6:30 p.m. — explained a plan, that if implemented, would pause all 2025-26 recruitment activities across A.S. and render all prior activities geared toward recruitment invalid. In addition, the Senate Liaison Committee would have worked with all BCU chairpersons throughout all aspects of the process, ranging from advertisements to interviews.
“I think that sending out an email about something that fundamentally changes the way BCUs do their election process whether it is trying to adhere to legal code or not, whether it is a big or small change, sending it out seven hours before … it’s kind of absurd in my opinion to say that you’re [trying] to prioritize the opinions of BCUs and try to open communication if we’re doing something like this,” third-year environmental studies major and Trans and Queer Commission (TQC) Co-Chair Chloe Hsieh said.
The email said that the motion was proposed to ensure “that every single undergraduate student is reasonably made aware of, given the opportunity to apply, and be considered for any and all of the appointed positions within the Association.”
Under the proposed changes, interviews would have begun in Week 7 for all BCUs, aiming for completion“within the first few weeks of Summer.”
Representatives of several BCUs, such as the Environmental Justice Alliance, said this change would go against their current legal codes and asserted that chair members should be internally selected. In an anonymous feedback form sent out with the email, one person called the change “a complete overstep of senate power.” Those in attendance echoed this sentiment, claiming that members of the Senate Liaison Committee would not be involved in the process for enough time to know who is best fit for the position.
“A lot of BCUs, they work really hard, and they really work to cultivate members and us saying ‘we know better than you’ isn’t the way I think we should go about it,” fourth-year economics and communication double major and Senator Taylor Iden said.
In addition, some BCU representatives argued that the proposed timeline would diminish interest for recruitment as it would occur in the latter half of the quarter and extend into summer when many students leave.
“It’s really important for the incoming board to attend our meetings for the rest of the quarter, get to know the members, get to know the people whose positions that they’re taking and actually have that one on one conversation to have that training and that is pretty next to impossible to do over summer,” third-year global studies, communication and Spanish triple major and Commission on Student Well-being (COSWB) Co-Chair Le Anh Metzger said.
On Friday, Ganesh sent out another email stating that if BCUs have already opened applications and their recruitment system is legal, they “have nothing to worry about” and that “the Senate will check to see if that is the case.” The email also clarified that this will only be for chair, co-chair and vice-chair positions.
“The Senate would like to apologize for sending the email so soon before the Senate meeting, limiting the amount of time for feedback and BCU attendance,” the email read.
All BCUs were invited to a town hall at the Pardall Center on April 14 to discuss the proposal further.
The reallocation of the Commission on Culture, Arts and Joy Justice’s budget to the Food Bank and a bill to amend the COSWB legal code were tabled until next week.
Fourth-year history of public policy and law major and EVPLA Owen Meyers and third-year religious studies major and University of California in Isla Vista Chair Samira Casillas updated the Senate about their efforts on Deltopia, April 5. UCIV was stationed on Del Playa from 8 a.m. to around 4:30 p.m., when their tent ran out of water. According to Meyers, they handed out around 7,000 cups of water and $3,000 worth of snacks alongside NARCAN, Liquid IV and fentanyl test strips.
One issue he highlighted to UC Santa Barbara administration was law enforcement preventing UCIV supply trucks from passing through road closures when packing up after the festival. Meyers said they were not informed of this ahead of time. For the future, he is aiming to establish a written agreement between UCIV and the county regarding their parameters on Deltopia.
“I would like to ask for all of your guys’ support on that, if you could just reach out as well and emphasize these efforts to the county, and emphasize from a student perspective why this is so important, especially since [UCIV] was the only water station within three blocks,” Meyers said.
Meyers also informed the Senate of the transition in power within the Isla Vista Foot Patrol, as Garrett TeSlaa was promoted to Commander and Joseph Schmidt took over as Lieutenant. Meyers hopes UCIV will be able to work with him to provide harm reduction without intervention.
“He went to UCSB, he was a Gaucho however, I will say that despite his supposed relatability, that TeSlaa said that he was his ideal successor for the position, so I would take that with a grain of salt,” Meyers said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Apr. 17, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
No way this is your take away from that meeting. Blatant election corruption and KCSB is the only one reporting on it. yikes @nexus
Blatant election corruption is occurring because someone forgot to submit for a deadline on time and now their feelings are hurt? White women tears really move the world. Also, KCSB and their reporters are a joke news outlet who only seeks to deport students through lazy reporting and publish propaganda.