The Associated Students of UCR held their first open Senate meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6th, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. in the ASUCR Senate Chamber. The meeting began with the standard procedure of a call to order followed by a roll call and an approval of the agenda. Following this, an approval of the previous summer’s ECAB meeting minutes took place.
After this approval, a Public Forum was held where each person was allowed 3 minutes to voice their concerns. This same principle was followed for the ex officio reports as well before a review of committee reports.
Eight pieces of legislation were reviewed by the Legislative Review Committee before arriving on the agenda for this Senate meeting. The first piece of legislation reviewed was SB-F21-001 which aimed to amend Chapter XXXIV Guidelines for the ASUCR First-Year Fellowship Program to extend to the Extended Cabinet. Written primarily by CHASS senator Helen Chu, and executive vice president, Mufida Assaf, as well as personnel director, Lina Nguy, the Senate Bill modifies the Executive Cabinet guidelines to involve the extended cabinet. The Legislative Review Committee approved this piece with a vote count of 7-0-0 on Oct. 1st, 2021 while the Senate approved this bill with a vote count of 16-0-0.
Senate Bill SB-F21-002 was written by CHASS senator, Helen Chu, and executive vice president, Mufida Assaf, and amends the Chapter II Bylaws: ASUCR Senators. Changes to Senate duties include a requirement to participate in an informative senatorial training with ASUCR professional staff prior to the start of their term and to reach out to college constituents when working on events and engaging in meetings with college deans, campus ambassadors and student organizations. Again, the Legislative Review Committee approved this piece with a vote count of 7-0-0 on Oct. 1st, 2021 while the Senate approved this bill with a vote count of 16-0-0.
Senate Resolutions would then be reviewed including SR-F21-001 which would be in support of promoting students’ accessibility to campus events through online recordings and SR-F21-002, where ASUCR in support of a Midterm Teacher Evaluation Survey. Senate Resolution SR-F21-003 was particularly important as it proposed to give students a choice in deciding between S/NC or a letter grade grading basis for internships.
In addition, Senate Resolution SR-F21-004 was also quite notable as it resolved to stand in Solidarity with UC Merced’s Associated Students. Many students enrolled at the University of California Merced have voiced their concerns and stories of their difficult search for housing for the 2021-2022 academic year as a result of housing affordability or shortage crisis.
Senate Resolutions SR-F21-005 and SR-F21-006 were also on the docket for UCR students. SR-F21-005 proposes to mandate recorded lectures permanently and SR-F21-006 proposes to extend S/NC measures offered in the 2020-2021 academic year through spring 2022. The Legislative Review Committee approved all senate resolutions with a vote count of 7-0-0 on Oct. 1st, 2021 while the Senate approved the resolution with a vote count of 16-0-0.
Following a review of the legislation, committee reports finally ended with a review of the Finance Hearing minutes for the meetings which took place on 09/29/2021, 09/30/2021, and 10/06/2021. Public comment was allowed where each person received 3 minutes to voice their concerns. New business that was addressed include the special elections for a GSOE senator, international student director and first time college student director. Finally, senator reports took place along with final announcements, before adjournment.
