The 77th Associated Students Senate approved the addition of a new Associated Students staff advisory position, which will oversee marginalized student Boards, Committees and Units, at its June 3 meeting.
Than described experiencing “adverse relationships” with some of the career staff during her time as a senator. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
Public Forum
Two former senators voiced their concerns during public forum over the proposed advisory position. Recent graduates, Mira Than and Vanessa Manakova advised the Senate to thoroughly review the job description and assess the position’s broader function within A.S. before its approval.
According to the description, the “A.S. Advisor for Student Advocacy, Equity, and Wellbeing” would oversee specific Boards, Committees and Units (BCUs) and more when deemed “necessary.” The BCUs include the Black Women’s Health Collaborative (BWHC), Raices de mi Tierra, the Student Commission on Racial Equity (S.C.O.R.E.) and the Commission on Disability Equity.
Than regarded the Senate’s proposal of this position as “a bit of a reactionary response” considering the previous Senate’s contentions with the BWHC. She stated how the BWHC’s lack of advisorship “kind of exploded into this long — or larger association problem,” even though every advisor allegedly knew which BCUs needed support.
“Within the liaison committee, we made an entire BCU sheet about what staff advisor is to who, and we sent it out to staff,” Than said. “So they were aware about who didn’t have a staff advisor or maybe who was being undersupported, and that was at the beginning of the school year … I feel like this could’ve been well executed way earlier.”
Than described experiencing “adverse relationships” with some of the career staff during her time as a senator. Allegedly, after she attempted to support her fellow co-workers whom she felt were “marginalized and discriminated against within the association,” staff members spoke behind her back. Than claimed they undermined her work as a senator to each other and her chair and never addressed their concerns directly to her. She encouraged the senate not to be afraid to speak out against staff members in the event that issues arise.
Manakova voiced concerns over the advisor position being described as “hybrid” despite senators claiming it would be “fully in-person.” She referenced past experiences of absent advisors creating conflict as to why she feels a hybrid position would be “seriously problematic,” given the responsibilities that are outlined in its description.
“It also explicitly states that [advisors] will maintain a presence — strong presence on campus, so that’s really confusing wording. Are they actually gonna be here full time, all the time for students, or are they gonna be sometimes remotely online?” Manakova said.
Manakova also stated that the job description frequently mentions “guiding [BCUs] through event planning,” however she felt the issues that undersupported BCUs faced did not come from a lack of support in event planning, but rather from a lack of assistance in navigating the A.S.’s financial system.
Executive Director Sean Lieberman later clarified that “hybrid” was a typo, confirming the position would be fully in-person. He also highlighted that the description has a section addressing financial needs for BCUs.
Next, S.C.O.R.E. Co-chair and recent graduate in Black studies Kamaya Jackson compared her experience of having a BCU advisor to being left without one. Jackson said that when she chaired the BWHC last year, an advisor was present. This year, as a part of S.C.O.R.E., an advisor was absent, which she explained makes it difficult for BCUs to run properly, especially those that focus on helping students of color.
“In [BCUs] that are catered toward students of color, or are trying to take care of those groups, it’s really hard to not only go out there and make those steps and efforts, but when you don’t have advisors, you’re literally doing it on your own,” Jackson said. “Not only are you representing the people on your board, you’re [also] trying to help groups out. ”
Jackson said that many groups come to S.C.O.R.E. and the BWHC for funding, and she emphasized the importance of BCUs having access to support via an active advisor.
“It’s really important to have someone on campus, even if they are a second person [for BCUs] to go to, to just make sure we have that communication,” Jackson said. “Because it’s true that on this campus, especially students of color organizations can get kind of pushed under the rug.”
Following this discussion, recent graduates Matthew Schoen and Lily Mejia, requested a rollover of $12,500 from the A.S. Office of the President’s account, which is being used to “revitalize” the Eternal Flame monument.
Reports
Lieberman pushed back against the idea that staff negligence caused the issues that were raised by former senators and BCU leaders. He stated that the existing staff advisor was given too many responsibilities, which limited their ability to provide direct support to the BCUs they were in charge of.
Lieberman stated that a new advisory position would allow direct support to those BCUs and ensure they can function without student leaders needing to worry about back-end administrative work.
Legislation Passed
A.S. Assistant Director for Human Resources Lili Hartounian spoke to the Senate to clarify the responsibilities of the proposed position. She stated that the advisor will be expected to be “highly visible” for students and maintain direct oversight in A.S. legal code and University policy in order to ensure students understand the operational parameters of A.S.
Hartounian highlighted the section “Onboarding & Strategic Planning” in the job description as it describes how the advisor will maintain transparency and demystify A.S.’s bureaucratic system for BCUs. It explained that the advisor will be responsible for facilitating onboarding retreats at the beginning of each year to introduce themself to all of their assigned BCUs and establish operational goals with them.
Senator and third-year physics major Alec GeoSimonian said he supported the need for a new advisor, but was concerned that the Senate had only recently seen the finalized description before being asked to approve a permanent staff position. He said his concerns stemmed from the issues that occurred with the BWHC, specifically that their advisor “ghosted them.”
After further debate between senators, the advisory position was amended to include: “provided students are actively involved in the hiring and probationary processes and that the Executive Director seriously considers complaints by students for the duration of the position’s existence.” However, the extent of the Senate’s involvement in the hiring process is limited under UC and state law, therefore A.S. career staff — specifically Lieberman along with human resources — will have the final decision.
The Senate approved the new position with the hiring process beginning this summer.
Legislation Proposed
The Senate referred the Budget Cycle Restructuring Act of 2026, introduced at the request of Senator Geosimonian, to the Finance Committee. The bill would codify A.S. budget procedures in the association’s legal code, updating bylaws that no longer reflect the current budget process.
A bill to update the Pardall Center legal code, brought by Senator and third-year philosophy major Simai Kang, was referred to the Liaison Committee. The bill would establish a temporary committee that would analyze strategies to expand and strengthen the association’s enterprise entities.
Financial Motions
The Senate approved several funding motions, including approximately $35,000 from reserves to S.C.O.R.E. to cover its remaining deficit, $2,835 from the Senate Unallocated funds to Shrunken Heads for its 24-hour “Shrek the Musical” and $1,334.89 from Senate Unallocated to Gaucho Marks Magazine. The Senate also approved $631.36 from its unallocated funds to finance the Scottish Heritage Club for their end-of-year banquet.
The Senate approved up to $12,500 for the Office of the President’s rollover from reserves to fund the Eternal Flame project and up to $20,575 to the A.S. External Vice President for Statewide Affairs from reserves to address promised funding requests.
