On April 17, 2024, the Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) welcomed the presence of a representative from Grocery Outlet marketing affordable groceries for students, and passed legislation advocating for mental health resource awareness and increasing safety on campus.
Prior to a unanimous approval of the meeting agenda, a friendly amendment was made to push back State of the Association (SOTA) reports to the next Senate meeting as most of the Executive Cabinet (ECAB) was unable to attend the meeting.
During New Business, a representative from Grocery Outlet, located on Chicago Avenue, came to share the deals they could offer to students on campus regarding affordable groceries. Currently, they are running a UCR specific loyalty card where UCR students get a special 10% discount when they spend $35 or more on groceries at Grocery Outlet. To get a loyalty card, all students have to do is show their student ID card at Grocery Outlet.
The senate unanimously approved two resolutions, in a vote of 13-0-0, during this week’s meeting. The first was SR-S24-001 Student Health and Counseling Resolution which would call for ASUCR “to increasingly promote Student Health resources on campus open to all students through social media efforts and future program collaborations,” as stated in the legislation. The second was SR-S24-003 Resolution to Increase Safety on Campus, which was created due to students voicing concern for campus safety, leading to administration and ASUCR, specifically the Student Voice Committee to collect more information regarding these safety concerns. They planned for a safety walk to occur on Thursday, April 18, where they walked at the Bell Tower to advocate for better lighting on campus.
The preceding week’s Senate Meeting Minutes were unanimously approved in a vote of 11-0-0 and Executive Cabinet Meeting Minutes #1 was approved 12-0-0.
A recap of Finance Meeting Minutes #1 revealed that both the Pakistani Student Association (PSA) and Delta Gamma, a sorority, received $1,500 in grants, coming out of their existing budget, to go towards events they want to host. PSA is planning a cultural show in which they expect around 300 attendees, and the sorority wants to use the money to go towards the rental fee at the Student Recreation Center (SRC) for their Anchor Splash event which would be open to all students. Both grants were approved by the finance committee in a vote of 5-0-1. The Senate approved these allocations in an unanimous vote of 13-0-0.
During Senator Reports, Senator Pizarro announced that they have been working on a volunteer fair with other members of ASUCR, are in the process of planning their next Town Hall, and have been maintaining connections with the School of Public Policy team and their ambassadors. Senator Teesha Sreeram reported that when she went to Sacramento to lobby for student housing bills, she had the opportunity to meet with several assembly members and discuss student specific topics with them. Within UCR, she has connected with the Campus Advocacy, Resources & Education (CARE) program to collaborate with during Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
Multiple updates and notices were shared during Roundtable and Announcements. Senator Nadia Colon reminded the Senate that the safety walk would occur the day after the meeting ended at the Bell Tower. President Pro Tempore Abby Choy reminded the Senate of Legislative Review Committee deadlines and announced that along with the Vice President of Campus Internal Affairs (VPCIA) Ruhi Barhman, she is planning an R’Safety event to train people to first response situations. Senator Sreeram announced that the Sexual Violence Prevention Committee will table on April 24, 2024. Senator Juan Campos shared that the Office of the President, in collaboration with the Creat’R Lab, has been working on Maker Week, and that the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair will take place on April 24, 2024. The final announcement was made by Senator Ray Khan in which he read a message from the Women’s Resource Center stating they are currently looking to hire two new student safety escort coordinators.
All senators were present except for Senator Alex Lu who was absent, and Senators Roshan Kannan, Grace Su, Kaden Ho, Anjana Narasimhan, Amariah Peedikayil and Naia Pizarro who were excused. Senator Kannan and Senator Pizarro later joined the meeting at 7:06 p.m. and 7:16 p.m. respectively. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m and adjourned at 7:33 p.m.
