On Oct. 14, the Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) began their weekly Senate Meeting at 7:05 p.m. and concluded at 8:32 p.m.
In new business, the Office of External Affairs Vice President Joseph Anastacio introduced the ratification of ASUCR Federal Relations Director and announced that Abigail Tafesse will be UCR’s delegate for the United States Student Association’s National Student Action Council this academic year. The ratification passed unanimously.
Office of the Elections Director Joanna Castro then initiated special elections for the positions of school of education (SOE) senator, the non-traditional student director and transfer student director after the Senate had tabled the elections at last week’s meeting.
Ariana Gutierrez, a second year education and liberal studies major, was the only candidate to speak for the SOE senator position. In her speech, Gutierrez discussed the importance of education with her focus being on diversity.
Castro then announced that there were two qualifying candidates for the non-traditional student director, the first to speak being Doruk Dincer.
As a third year computer science major and Turkish international transfer student, Dincer discussed how he used the available resources at UCR to be able to gain community on campus. He explained further that his personal experiences position him as a good fit for the role as he “know[s] what their experiences are.”
Senators then heard an address from Carlos Mercado, a fourth year sociology major, who was documented as running for the SOE senator position but stated he was running for the non-traditional student director position during the meeting. Mercado talked about the lack of disability representation at UCR and described his own experience to support other non-traditional students stating, “[I] not only represent the people with disabilities, I also represent the hispanics … people of color … so I can relate with the different [students].”
Following another closed session vote, the Senate appointed Dincer to the role of non-traditional student director.
Castro then introduced one candidate for the transfer student director position, Athina Bush, a fourth year psychology, neuroscience and philosophy major.
Bush, a transfer student herself, discussed how she understood the challenges faced by transfer students and how her experience working with campus organizations allowed her to work with diverse student populations. Following a final closed session, the Senate appointed Bush to the role of transfer student director.
The Senate then saw a presentation by Adrianni Silvano, a government relations associate of the University of California Student Association (UCSA). Silvano discussed UCSA’s achievements, such as higher education funding in the governor’s budgets. Among these was the UC Compact which guaranteed increased funding if the UC schools met performance standards and secured $20 million for basic needs and disability services.
In committee reports, the Senate reviewed three bills including SB-F26-006 or “Adding Scotty Eats Requirement to Senator Bylaws,” SB-F26-007 or “Adding Scotty Eats Requirement to the Office of the President Bylaws” and SB-F26-008 or “Correcting Michael K. Bergler Award,” all of which were unanimously passed.
