The Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside’s (ASUCR) fourth Senate meeting of spring quarter presented State of the Association (SOTA) reports. Members of the executive cabinet (ECAB) made announcements and statements condemning racism on campus, changes to the ASUCR Internship Programs and adjustment to the referendum process.
The first member of the executive cabinet to present their SOTA reports during New Business was the Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (VPDEI) Ahman Greene. During his report, VP of DEI Greene shared that earlier that day, April 23, 2025, “a group of non-students came to campus spreading anti-Black messages and propaganda.”
He emphasized that spreading hate messages such as those are unacceptable. As VP of DEI, Greene explained that he is “committed to ensuring that every member of our campus, regardless of race, religion or creed, feel safe, respected and supported.” He ended his message by condemning racism and asking the public to reach out to him if they need support or resources on the matter.
Next to share their SOTA report was ASUCR President Abby Choy, who went into more details regarding the work that her office has done over the last few months. President Choy gave updates on what the school has done to protect and assist its international and undocumented student population, and updates to the ASUCR Internship Programs.
According to President Choy, the school is currently working on one-pagers to put in classrooms outlining legal services that students can reach out to if needed. Additionally, she claims that while the school has not been putting out public statements, “they are talking to students, making sure that if their visa was revoked, they are communicating with them one-on-one to make sure they do receive some legal advice.”
When detailing the renovations planned for the Senate and Executive Internship Program, multiple questions and comments were made by the Senate. Executive Fellows will continue to get event planning experience; this experience will be fascinated through the Bear’s Den as a permanent part of the program. Senate Interns instead of being assigned to a single senator, would instead be assigned to a college.
President Choy described her own experiences as a mentor to provide this solution. She shares, “Nathan was my intern last year who was a pre-business major, and I felt bad because I could not given the same resources as a [College of Humanities & Social Sciences] CHASS Senator, because a lot of my projects were focused on [the College of Agricultural & Natural Sciences] CNAS.”
Many questions and concerns were brought up by senators in the room from how many interns would be involved in the program within each college, would the senators be working as a unit and mentoring all the interns as a big group, to whether or not all applicants would be accepted into the program. President Choy addressed each question and concern one at a time, ending that responsibilities and expectations would be held accountable by putting them into action through bylaws, and that if anyone has any further questions, they are free to meet with her and discuss it later.
Assistant Elections Director Aushee Heagney presented SOTA reports on behalf of Elections Director Kevin Arizmendi to provide various updates on the elections process. For the 2025-2026 academic year, a total of 64 candidates made it to the ballot, with no applicants for the position of International Student Director and Non-Traditional Student Director, who will be found at a later date through special elections.
Four referendums are going on the ballot for this election season, the Associated Students Program Board (ASPB) is looking for a quarterly fee increase from $40 to $50, the Highlander Abroad Referendum fee is looking to renew their $2 quarter fee, the Performing Arts Support and Access Fee is looking to increase from $2.50 to $12 and the Garden, Food Security and Sustainability Referendum which is looking for $10 to combat food insecurity. Changes were made to the referendum process making it more of an administrative discussion which may lead to the referendum on the ballot, rather than seeing it go through ASUCR at first.
Two pieces of legislation were presented during Committee Reports by the Legislative Review Committee (LRC). The first was a resolution titled “Advocating for a 4-Year Business Administration Degree.” The legislation “Advocates for the restructuring of UCR’s Business Administration program into a four-year direct-admission major, eliminating the current Pre-Business designation, with no changes to the lower-division curriculum.” The resolution was passed 9-0-2.
The other piece of legislation was a Senate Bill for “Scheduling Accessibility beyond Office Hours.” The bill seeks to add flexibility in how students can connect with the various student representatives in ASUCR. The bill was passed 11-0-0.
Vice President of Finance (VPF), Cooper Kumar, presented Finance Committees hearing minutes for the dates of April 21, 2025 and April 14, 2025. Each line item was approved by the Senate and passed.
The meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m.
