The eighth ASUCR meeting of the quarter was kicked off by a presentation from the University of California Student Association (UCSA) president, Aidan Arasasingham. Arasasingham, a fourth-year global studies student, addressed the senate to share the vision and values of UCSA, “to advocate on behalf of current and future students for the accessibility, affordability, and quality of the University of California system.”

This year, UCSA is focused on securing an equitable COVID-19 response and recovery on all UC campuses, re-envisioning campus safety and the reinvestment of community support, expanding financial aid for students and strengthening student power, advocacy and representation for student government organizations across the UC system.

During the approval of Finance Hearing Minutes #13, the senate took a 10 minute recess to further discuss a grant allocation of $600 designated for the Undergraduate Business Association. Vice President of Finance William Wang stated that the funds would be used to book another event with Jonathan Javier, a UCR alumni and the CEO and founder of Wonsulting, a company focused on teaching others about professional development. GSOE Senator Stephanie Zeng raised concern with the Wonsulting CEO having previously been accused of sexual assault, stating that she would not be able to vote on the approval of the allocation. The original allegation against Javier was posted in a viral twitter thread by UCR alumni Erin Spates in June. However, on July 9, Spates stated in a followup tweet that the allegations against Javier were, “false and unfounded.” The Undergraduate Business Association grant allocation ultimately failed to pass with a vote of 1-10-1.

During New Business, President Pro Tempore Orlando Cabalo presented SR-F20-007 Proposition to Extend S/NC Measures Offered in Spring 2020 through Spring 2021. The senate resolution was authored by CHASS Senators Mufida Assaf and Lizbeth Marquez Torres in an effort to repeat the same extensions from last spring to change the deadline to S/NC a course from the end of the eighth week of the quarter to the end of the term. “Given that there has been a huge increase in the number of COVID cases and the second wave of economic relief has not been passed, students are now finding themselves in the same or worse situations as they were finding themselves in the spring quarter,” said Marquez Torres. She added that the Academic Senate should consider implementing the same relief to students throughout the entirety of the year, as the campus closure has now lasted longer than anyone expected. SR-F20-007 was passed with a vote of 13-0-0, and the senate will now pass on the recommendation to the Academic Senate as well as reach out to the deans of each academic department to encourage their support of the resolution.

SB-F20-010 ASUCR Townhall Act was authored by Personnel Director Sean Nguyen and the bill outlines the requirement for the senate to host one town hall per quarter for each college of UCR. With the exception of the Graduate School of Education and the School of Public Policy, who would either have the option to host their own town hall or collaborate with a separate college, each college would plan a town hall for students before week three of the quarter and host it anytime before week seven. The bill’s purpose is to ensure that students are being heard by their ASUCR representatives and to give the senate an opportunity to inform them of any important topics discussed in ASUCR meetings or their monthly dean’s meetings.  “It is more important now than ever to allow a space where students can create open dialog in times of remote learning,” states the bill. SB-F20-010 was passed with a vote of 12-0-1.

The senate meeting was adjourned at 8:13 p.m.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include that the original allegations against Wonsulting CEO, Jonathan Javier, were disproven in a followup tweet by UCR alumni, Erin Spates, who originally posted the allegation on her twitter account.