On Oct. 30, the Associated Students of University of California Riverside (ASUCR) held their fifth Senate meeting. This meeting discussed the budget adjustments that had been approved, which overall increased the ASUCR budget to $124,179, an approximately $27,891 increase.
Executive Director Asha Nettle explained that they “budgeted conservatively,” so they were able to establish this increase. UCR received more enrollments than they had originally expected, so that funding from tuition increased the ASUCR reserve budget. Originally the projected enrollment was 21,671 students, however it turned out to be 22,400.
Executive Director Nettle also covered updates on budget in the context of operations. Some of the funding has been allocated to providing student staff with gavels and name plates, and also provide polos to unpaid positions.
For clubs that are utilizing direct deposit through ASUCR, they will no longer be charged a direct deposit fee, which was previously $1. The new budget is now able to cover the cost of depositing on behalf of these organizations.
After Vice President of Finance (VPF) Cooper Kumar continued the Finance Committee Meeting reports by explaining that there was interest in making the External Executive Assistant a paid position. Previously the position was held for nine months and was not paid, however, after receiving a 12-0-0 vote, the positions will now be paid $990 over the course of their nine month term.
During Legislative Review Committee reports, CHASS Senator Hooshyari Far presented a resolution calling for awareness regarding the Armenian Genocide. She alleged that the “UN is hypocritical” for providing support for other countries that have experienced genocide, but not to the Armenian Genocide.
The resolution, “Statement on COP29 – UN Conference 2024,” called for all UCR attendees of the COP29 United Nations (UN) conference, to “please raise the issue of Azerbaijan’s human rights violations in discussions with other attendees” and asked for “UCR faculty and administrators to show their support for Armenian students by highlighting the wrongdoings of Azerbaijan and Turkey and to stay true to their statements of divestment and support for all students.” A motion was passed 12-0-0 to approve this resolution.
CHASS Senator Ryan Jun-Min Choi was absent and CHASS Senator Carter Anderson, CHASS Senator Nathan Baw, College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Senator Anthony Ching, Bourns College of Engineering Senator Uma Akundi, School of Business Senator Dhruv Patel and School of Public Policy Senator Sofia Jimenez were excused from the meeting.
