The 76th Associated Students Senate heard concerns from students and faculty in the Department of French and Italian about the University of California-wide effort to shift language courses to an online program.
Department of French & Italian faculty and students expressed concerns over the UC-wide effort to shift language courses online. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
Public forum
First-year global studies major Sarina Salzer-Swartz and second-year comparative literature major Casey Carnow spoke out independently against the system-wide shift from in-person to online language classes at UC Santa Barbara and the rest of the UC system. Both students praised UCSB’s Department of French and Italian, arguing that a transition to online classes would decrease the quality of learning.
“Every professor I’ve worked with is incredibly intelligent and really very enthusiastic about their field of expertise,” Carnow said. “I speak from experience that taking foreign language classes is one of the most eye-opening experiences that one can have.”
David Moak, a UCSB lecturer in French studies and comparative literature, continued the discussion on the future of foreign language programs at UCSB. He explained that current budget cuts will cause a 60% reduction in both course offerings and faculty in the Department of French and Italian. He went on to discuss the Global Language Network, the online hub of UC language classes.
“Our faculty perspective is that we simply don’t know what is happening … because it is not being communicated to us,” Moak said.
Moak requested that the Senate draft a resolution affirming that the austerity measures levied towards the Department of French and Italian have been disproportionate to the budgetary reality. Furthermore, he asked the Senate to speak out in support of a reinvestment in foreign language programs. Later in the meeting, the Senate passed a resolution expressing support for maintaining UCSB’s foreign language programs.
Next, third-year biology major and Executive Board Member of Santa Barbara Hillel, Justin Shirazian, notified the Senate of an upcoming health fair that will be hosted in association with the Hillel chapter, the Counseling, Advocacy, Resources & Education office and other on-campus groups. The health fair is designed to connect students with doctors and volunteer organizations in Santa Barbara. Shirazian intends to use the High Impact Fund to sponsor free CPR certifications conducted throughout the event.
Following this, fourth-year political science major Santino Gigliotti spoke on behalf of the UCSB chapter of the Alexander Hamilton Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing students with career consulting and networking opportunities in foreign policy and national security in Washington, D.C. Gigliotti requested that the Senate promote the organization through social media and was directed to the Senate’s Instagram to coordinate further advertising.
Afterward, fourth-year sociology major and Senator Mira Than, addressing the Senate as a member of the public, commented on the lock-in student fees for the Community Volunteer Foundation and Commission for Marginalized Genders. Although both organizations are currently being funded by student fees, neither has been active in years. Than asserted that Associated Students (A.S.) either needs to downsize or drastically improve public transparency if they wish to gain broader student support.
Reports
In a statement regarding Soltopia, A.S. Executive Director Sean Lieberman shared that housing citations and parking incident reports were down by over 50%, citations by 92%, medical calls by 94% and hospital visits by 92%. The Warm Up, the A.S. Program Board’s concert for students, sold all 4,000 tickets with 2,800 people in attendance.
Lieberman proceeded to shift the discussion to student fees. United States Students Associated student fees have been canceled, Commission on Marginalized Genders fees will be canceled as soon as an official memo is sent requesting cancellation and the Community Volunteer Foundation fee has been paused for four years pending the creation of a new board to spend existing funds.
Next, A.S. President and fourth-year Spanish, communication and global studies triple major Le Anh Metzger announced she will host another rapid response training on April 16. Hosted by the local non-profit 805 UndocuFund, the training will teach attendees how to identify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) vehicles, the difference between different warrants and how to respond to I.C.E. sightings.
Legislation proposed
Senator and first-year physics major Alec GeoSimonian proposed a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14391 issued on March 13. The order gave Secretary of Energy Chris Wright the authority to invoke the Defense Production Act to regulate American energy resources. Wright then authorized the restart of the Santa Ynez offshore oil platform, located off the coast of Santa Barbara County. This platform was originally closed in 2015 due to the Refugio oil spill.
The resolution was referred to the advocacy committee, and if passed, copies of the resolution will be mailed to the relevant entities, including President Trump.
Legislation passed
The Senate adopted a bill to standardize chairship, authored by Second President Pro-Tempore and fourth-year political science and history double major Melanie Jones. The bill will limit the number of chairs a Boards, Committees and Units (BCU) can have to five and push for more distinct roles within A.S.
Next, the Senate adopted a bill to standardize A.S. departments and BCUs, authored by First President Pro-Tempore and second-year political science major Evan Sussman. The bill strictly defines BCUs to determine what entities fall under A.S. and which are registered campus organizations under the jurisdiction of Student Engagement & Leadership.
The Senate then adopted a bill, authored by Sussman, to end the Outstanding BCU awards that are given to select BCUs with monetary prizes at the end of each quarter. Sussman originally introduced this bill because he said it is not appropriate to use student fees to award work within A.S. when that money could go into student projects.
Financial motions
The Senate voted to approve the Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) Productivity Pod High Impact Project proposal, which included the allocation of $94,388 for the pods and another $10,000 for potential future costs. The proposal includes one Americans with Disabilities Act accessible framery four pod and three framery one pods. The pods are designed to offer a private location where students take Zoom calls or interviews.
Appointments and resignations
The Senate voted to remove Senators Mia Gutierrez and fourth-year communication major CJ Toledo from the Senate on the grounds of failure to fulfill attendance requirements.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the April 16 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
