The 76th Associated Students Senate held its final meetings of the academic year on May 28 and June 4. Senators heard public comments from several students and finished its final agenda across two meetings.
Third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway swore in the incoming president, third-year global studies, communication and Spanish triple major Le Anh Metzger. Michelle Cisneros / Daily Nexus
Although the May 28 meeting was set to be the last of the year, an additional meeting was held the following week to complete all agenda items that were not previously addressed.
The May 28 meeting began with former Associated Students (A.S.) President and third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway swearing in the incoming president, third-year global studies, communication and Spanish triple major Le Anh Metzger. During the previous meeting, former External Vice President for Local Affairs and fourth-year history of public policy and law major, Owen Meyers, swore in the executives. The redo was done out of precaution since the former president must swear in the incoming president before they can swear in others.
The Senate then moved into public forum. Charlie Jyu, a fourth-year computer science major, returned to the senate to present his research regarding transparency, student civic engagement, tuition and other topics pertaining to the student body’s relationship with A.S. Jyu said that he conducted his research on his own time to better understand the university’s student government.
“It frustrates me when I end up having to pay for recreational activities I don’t benefit from or even agree with. That’s why I investigated more about A.S. and how it handles my fees,” Jyu said.
Jyu said that based on his research, most students were unaware of how A.S. functions, and that this is correlated with the declining voter turnout for the Spring General Election in the last several years. He went on to explain his outreach methods for Boards, Committees and Units (BCUs) and suggested that they be minimized to reduce student fees. He argued that large student fees make higher education less accessible by adding to total tuition costs.
Later in the meeting, during BCU unit reports, Lobby Corps’ co-chair for local affairs and fourth-year economics major Nelson Mu raised concerns over Jyu’s A.S. presentation, arguing that BCUs work hard to engage the student body.
“I want to make it clear we are here. We talk about what we do and make it very transparent. In addition to that, we also table very frequently. I know a lot of BCUs also spend a lot of time in the Arbor tabling. I can tell you right now we are out there. We’re trying to interface in the community,” Mu said.
Mu disagreed with Jyu’s idea of reducing the number of BCUs to decrease student fees because he believes having a “diverse range and diverse access to different interests and different groups” is not a problem.
Mu said that nuance is lost from those who continuously criticize A.S. while not recognizing all that they benefit from.
“I feel that a lot of people who come in here without the experience in A.S. are just looking in from an outside perspective and doing the bare minimum cursory overview are much like house cats,” Mu said. “They try to pretend to be fiercely independent of a system that they neither understand nor care to try to interact with, but that they rely on in order to actually function.”
After Jyu, third-year economics and environmental studies double major Leo Brown presented an initiative to put laundry detergent sheets in university laundry rooms. Brown is working with the environmental justice startup, Generation Conscious, to potentially offer detergent sheets in laundry rooms for on-campus housing free of charge. Brown said that these sheets would save students money since the university would keep the dispensers stocked, and that they’re better for the environment since they are plastic-free.
If the project were to come to fruition, a student fee may be proposed to cover refill costs. A final funding plan would decide where funding would come from. Senators recommended that Brown pursue the initiative as a High Impact Project (H.I.P) and get in touch with environmental organizations on campus to discuss it further.
Former Senator and fourth-year Black studies major Alexa Butler also spoke to apologize for the discussion held the previous week and to advocate for a H.I.P project that would help fund the Black Heritage Cultural Experience (BHCE). The BHCE is an undergraduate trip for those who “identify with or seek to engage deeply with Black history and culture.”
“I want to just come and apologize from the bottom of my heart to you all, last week was supposed to be exciting and fun and a proud moment for me too,” Butler said.
The Senate tabled the resolution during the previous meeting due to time constraints. Butler expressed her frustrations with the decision, as the resolution had been mentioned in several meetings and was set to be discussed at the May 14 meeting, which was canceled due to insufficient quorum.
“I went on this life-changing trip, and it was completely [paid] for, it was in collaboration with C.A.P.S. [Counseling and Psychological Services],” Butler said. “This trip not only changed my life, it changed my family’s life and every single person that I talk to now.”
With this presentation, the Senate was able to allocate $25,000 for the upcoming fall 2025 BHCE trip in the subsequent meeting.
After public forum, several BCUs, including Take Back the Night, Pardall Center, Lobby Corps and Trans and Queer Commission delivered their quarterly unit reports.
The Senate also passed two resolutions commending two outgoing members of the Association, A.S. Executive Director Marisela Marquez and former Senator and fourth-year political science and economics double major MingJun Zha, for their work.
“MinJun Zha’s prioritization of the student voice is a direct testament [to] his belief and dedication to UCSB values,” incoming Attorney General and fourth-year economics and communication double major Taylor Iden said.
Marquez has been the executive director since the 2007-8 academic year.
“Her steadfastness in service, dedication to advocacy, her guiding leadership for all undergraduate students here at UCSB, [and] her work [have] proven pivotal to the development of the Associated Students,” fourth-year chemistry major and former Attorney General Eric Carlson said.
After reconvening in A.S. Main Building, the Senate bundled and passed all of Metzger’s appointments. This included the appointment of Iden as Attorney General for the 2025-26 academic year.
Once the minute takers left the meeting, the Senate was forced to end the meeting at 1:14 a.m. with unfinished business.
After ending the May 28 meeting short, the Senate held an irregular week 10 meeting on June 4 to finish the previous meeting’s incomplete agenda.
Metzger addressed the Senate with concerns regarding Policy 43 that would add a liaison committee hearing process for all BCU’s chair appointments, which she finds “wholly unnecessary.”
“Chairs already go through two review processes before reaching the Senate. These are not random people with no qualifications being selected from chair positions. As such there’s absolutely no need to introduce further bureaucratic measures to vet BCU chairs and convolute our governing processes,” Metzger said.
Senator and first-year computer science major Yuchang Jiang defended Policy 43 by arguing that it would allow the Senate to review nominated BCU chairs and add extra procedures to ensure that the rights of all students in A.S. are protected.
“The whole purpose is just to standardize the process, to make it transparent and open to all the branches of A.S. not just to the President or the BCU themselves,” Jiang said. “And to make sure we’re protecting the equal membership rights for every single candidate that was nominated for these positions.”
Policy 43 was then referred to the liaison committee for further deliberation.
Associate Director of Technology & Strategic Communication of A.S. Sean Lieberman then gave the executive director’s report, where he motivated the Senate to build a good relationship with BCUs, as they are the “positive outlet” of A.S.
“Treat [BCUs] as additional parts of the organization, and don’t see yourselves as their supervisors or parents, because it’s really easy to fall into that hole,” Lieberman said. “While you do need to hold them accountable to legal code and make sure that those things are being abided by, that is kind of the extent of it.”
The Senate passed a resolution to reaffirm its commitment to the Michael Ma Service to Economics Students Act. This commitment is the first step toward a larger goal to buy Bloomberg Terminals for UCSB, which third-year economics and accounting double major and senator Xander Hepburn said is “a key part of financial education.”
The Senate passed a resolution in support of the Fostering Access, Resilience and Opportunity (FARO) Center’s continued work. The FARO center provides Case Management, Documentation Readiness, Workforce Development, Housing Referrals and Health and Mental Health Support services in Santa Barbara.
The Senate also approved the appointment of second-year Black studies major Kamaya Jackson to Student Commission on Racial Equity (S.C.O.R.E.). This was done because of the directives of a recent Judicial Council case regarding the appointment of Jackson as co-chair of the S.C.O.R.E.
The Senate then approved $3,000 for Moot Court, a $250 start-up fund for the Arab Student Group and $2,223.45 for the A.S. Rent Support Program.
The meeting ended with the Senate approving the appointments of senators to various committees.
