The Associated Students 75th Senate convened on Oct. 23 to discuss the position of Boards, Committees and Units and senate leadership as well as pass resolutions related to financial policies.
The Senate voted to pass “A Bill To Reform and Repair Senate and [Boards, Committees and Units (BCU)] Relations,” which aims to “give BCUs greater autonomy and rectify the historical tension and mistrust between BCUs and elected officials.” They also passed “A Bill To Expand The Office of Senate Leadership,” which would add more Associated Students (A.S.) staff positions to the offices of the first and second pro-tempores in order to assist with their workload.
Additionally, “A Resolution To Direct The Associate Director of Finance Regarding A.S. Requisition Submissions” passed, clarifying specific requisition guidelines to “address concerns and issues encountered by professional staff in the finance department pertaining to AS Requisition submission errors.”
“A Bill To Reform Honoraria in ASUCSB” was proposed to increase accountability and productivity for BCUs by utilizing a financial incentive. Honoraria is the form of A.S. stipend or payment.
“Over time, the honoraria has evolved into an in-kind compensation that nearly guarantees the full amount to all members, barring significant errors. While this approach is positive, recognizing the substantial effort contributed by members, it lacks a mechanism for acknowledging individuals who exceed expectations,” the bill read.
To create a form of acknowledgment for those who do “exceed expectations,” the bill proposed the Outstanding BCU Award. This clause allows the A.S. president to nominate three BCUs each quarter for the award. It would then be up to the discretion of the Senate to approve the members of the BCU based on specific eligibility requirements. If approved, all members would receive 200% of the honoraria.
BCUs were sent a feedback form in which they were asked what appropriate criteria for the award would be and how to quantify a BCU’s impact on students. With 10 responses from members of seven different BCUs, the Senate decided that there was insufficient information about the bill’s potential impact on A.S. and passed the bill to the A.S. Liaison Committee.
A.S. parliamentarian and third-year political science major MingJun Zha, a student sponsor for the bill, resigned as an at-large member of the Honoraria Committee in response and momentarily exited the meeting.
The Senate also discussed the Gaucho Food Inclusion Program (GFIP), which aims to support students who cannot access “nutritious and culturally relevant meals,” according to international senator and third-year communication and German double major Ella Yu. The program is designed for international and out-of-state students who live off campus.
Through GFIP, students would be allocated meal vouchers for local eateries in Isla Vista, allowing them access to a free meal. It plans to increase accessibility by not requiring financial documentation, with the hope to launch a pilot program this quarter and have the program fully up and running in winter quarter.
During discussion, senators expressed concerns regarding provisions for undocumented students and funding sources, as well as a lack of specificity regarding contingencies to prevent program misuse and restaurant partnerships. The Senate voted to table the bill for the time being.
Second-year global studies major Leah Khorsandi and second-year biology and political science double major Eemaan Wahidullah gave a report updating their fellow senators about the Jewish-Muslim Student Alliance Committee. The committee held their first meeting during which they discussed their main projects, including establishing a reflection room and academic and elections board calendar protections on religious holidays.
The Senate ended the meeting by going into a closed session where only senators, the Internal Vice President, Executive Director, Assistant Director for Governmental Affairs, Associate Director for Student Engagement and Leadership, Senate parliamentarian and minute takers were invited to discuss the boycott of the 10/2 Senate meeting.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Oct. 31, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
