October 2020
ASUCR debated on a number of constitutional amendments and resolutions in their first meeting on Oct. 12. For instance, CA-F20-002 was proposed to reform the amendment process of the ASUCR Constitution. The bill would reduce the requirement for an amendment to appear on the general election ballot from 15% of the undergraduate student body to just 2%.
A week later, their second meeting was conducted on Oct. 19 and saw a special election filling the vacant role of the transfer and nontraditional director with fourth-year education and history major, Kaitylyn Hall.
November 2020
At ASUCR’s fifth meeting of the quarter on Nov. 9, the senate approved Vice President of Sustainability Vanessa Gomez-Alvarado’s choices for her office, as well as the three candidates for the judicial council. For the special election that took place, fourth-year biology major Lama Yassine was elected as the new elections director.
On Nov. 13, ASUCR held their second State of the Association meeting of the year, which saw the passage of SR-F20-004, a proposition to mandate recorded lectures for all classes on campus. ASUCR’s eighth meeting on Nov. 18 primarily saw the discussion and passage of SR-F20-005, which aimed to push back against the Budget Advisory Committee’s recent recommendation to eliminate the School of Public Policy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic budget cuts.
December 2020
ASUCR held their last State of the Association meeting of the quarter and unanimously passed seven pieces of legislation regarding Greek life. Resolution SR-F20-006 saw the student body standing in solidarity against sexual violence in light of recent claims of the prevalence of sexual assault within Greek life communities.
January 2021
Resolution SR-W21-002 was passed, which promoted a more streamlined and efficient process for reporting discrimination on campus. A bill was also tabled in their third meeting that would have had UCR adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.
In their final meeting of the month, they discussed the revocation of UCR’s federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institute, an update on ASUCR’s Black Lives Matter donation and a senate resolution meant to increase awareness on the need for more family housing on campus.
February 2021
The ASUCR senate approved resolution SR-W21-007 to implement inclusivity training for faculty and staff. The senate in the following meetings moved forward with approving a $15,000 large-scale initiative to add reusable to-go containers in the dining halls. A resolution was also proposed to convert the UCR School of Business’ current method for obtaining a Bachelor of Arts, but ultimately failed to pass the academic senate. Additionally, international students are now allowed to vote and participate in ASUCR elections after an amendment was made to Chapter VII of the ASUCR bylaws.
March 2021
The ninth ASUCR meeting was held on March 3. During the meeting, the senate approved an amendment to the Elections Code to remove the deadline to file a violation form on the elections website. As a result, motions to pass both SB-W21-007 and SR-S21-002 were made. SB-W21-007 addressed current candidates’ abilities to vote on bylaws while they run for office, while SR-S21-002 advocated for a safe, in-person graduation ceremony.
April 2021
The first meeting of the month had the student body approve two resolutions that supported UCR’s commitment to 100% clean energy and the implementation of American Sign Language and deaf culture classes into UCR’s curriculum. In addition, they also approved a senate bill that will permanently allocate $40,000 for students’ basic needs every year. In a following meeting on April 22, SR-S21-006 was passed, which advocated for affordable textbooks across the UC.
May 2021
The first meeting of the month saw a discussion of a cohort-based tuition plan that would have increases in tuition for incoming students. The student body convened on May 12 in order to discuss and pass SR-S21-009 and SR-S21-010, which advocated for fair trade and diverse food options for students, respectively.
In the second meeting of May, SB-S21-009, SR-S21-011 and SR-S21-013 were passed, which called for the creation of the Student-Parent Committee, prioritization of mental health services further through additional resources and an increase in transparency of the University of California Police Department, respectively. A statement was also released at this time to affirm support for Palestinian students, faculty and staff.
The final meeting of the month kicked off with the passage of SR-S21-012 Support Student Workers Resolution, which aimed to support student-employees on campus, support a campus-wide minimum wage that is tied to inflation and support the efforts of the over 17,000 UC student researchers in their effort to unionize through social media and other forms of communication.
June 2021
During their final meeting of the school year on June 2, an unannounced walkout was staged that prevented the passage of legislation. Several CHASS senators walked out of the meeting in protest of a piece of legislation that would add a minimum requirement to win an election unopposed.
