ASG Senate convened Wednesday night in an evening of new beginnings — sort of. Austin Young led his first executive board meeting as president, while senators finally settled on a plan to approach ASG restructuring possibilities, the latest step in an ongoing debate over changing student representation that started in early winter quarter.
- After more than an hour of debate, senators passed a bill forming a seven-member task force to devise a senate reformation plan to be presented and voted on in mid-May.
The task force consists of four senators, one from each caucus, and two non-senator members approved by Senate; Vice President Ash Jaidev and Financial Vice President Jeremy Yablon were selected. Speaker of the Senate Wilson Funkhouser will act as committee head and will only vote in case of a tie.
Several senators voiced concerns over the issue of closed meetings for the task force, leading to an amendment in the bill providing for ASG clerk Elena Westbrook to take minutes at each meeting.
The committee’s legislation will appear as new business May 11.
- Senators unanimously passed a bill presented by representatives from Rainbow Alliance urging the university to expand the position of LGBT Resource Coordinator to a full-time position. Doris Dirks currently holds that post in a part-time capacity. She also serves as coordinator of Student Organizations for Social Justice.
Since the resource center was founded in 2004, it has expanded considerably along with the duties of coordinator, who is responsible for staff and student training for the HIV testing services as well as student events provided through the center.