ASUCR held their third meeting of the quarter on April 15 via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the UCR campus closure.
ASUCR passed SB-S20-001: ASUCR Highlander Spirit during Committee Reports. This senate bill would change the name of the Highlander Pride committee to Highlander Spirit. The Highlander Pride is a committee under the Office of the Personnel Director that is intended to support student-athletes who represent the University, and to draw more attention to athletics by encouraging students to show up to home and away games on UCR’s campus. According to CHASS Senator Nelson Huerta, members of the LGBT Resource Center at UCR expressed that the name Highlander Pride was insensitive to the LGBT community. The bill passed 16-0-0.
During Ex-Officio Reports, Vice President of Internal Affairs Jocelyn Ortiz announced that she will be allocating the remainder of her budget, a total of $20,000 to the R’Pantry in the form of gift cards and e-gift cards. Ortiz stated that Vice President of External Affairs Luis Huerta and President Julian Gonzalez also donated parts of their budgets to the R’Pantry. Approximately 850 gift cards of $50 each that will be given to students, according to Ortiz. She added that the gift cards should be handed out beginning next week, the week of April 20.
CHASS Senator Isaiah Kim asked his fellow members of ASUCR during Roundtable and Announcements if UCR administration has considered adopting a S/NC grading system such as UC Berkeley. All of UC Berkeley’s spring 2020 undergraduate courses will default to the pass/no pass grading system and students can change their grading option until May 6 if they wish to take a class for a letter grade.
In response, Executive Vice President Abigail Cortes stated that the Executive Cabinet discussed the topic during their meeting with campus administration last week. She stated that the situation is still being worked on and that this is a conversation they should continue to have with administration. President Gonzalez said that he does not believe the policy will change. The current policy for spring 2020, according to the UCR Office of the Registrar, allows students to withdraw from classes without a ‘W’ through week eight without a dean’s approval. Starting week nine, a ‘W’ will be assigned for dean approved withdrawals. The last day to withdraw from a class without a ‘W’ through week eight without a dean’s approval is May 22. The last day to change grading basis or variable units is also May 22 at noon. There will be no fee to do so for spring 2020 only.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
