The last meeting of this year’s A.S. Council commenced with a jocular air, but soon gave way to sentimental reflections that became the focus part of the meeting.
During reports, Associate Vice President of Enterprise Operations Sydney Goldberg updated the council on the Grove Caffe situation. Following up on the idea of letting the Rady School of Management take on the Grove as a project, Goldberg met with the Rady School Assistant Dean Clark Jordan to discuss internship offers that would allow students to look over management plans during the summer.
Next, Earl Warren College Junior Senator Dan Palay reported that beer and wine services for the RIMAC expansion project had been approved.
During question time, John Muir College Sophomore Senator Meghan Clair inquired whether the funding for student affairs would really be only $15 million out of the $1 billion allotted to UCSD.
“”Fifteen million out of a billion is a paltry sum,”” said President Harry Khanna, who did not have any suggestions for petitioning more money into student affairs.
Clair revealed that she was interested in gathering more funding for student affairs to start a football team. According to Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, starting a football team would cost around $1 million.
The campus and public affairs committee presented a joking resolution honoring Khanna; it was sponsored by, among others, President George W. Bush, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Jack Bauer.
Eleanor Roosevelt College Senior Senator Erik Rodriguez-Palacios moved for several amendments to the resolution, including removing clauses claiming that Khanna conducted business while watching “”24″” and is horrible at sloshball.
The resolution also said Khanna had administered one of the most successful councils in recent history. The 2006-07 council developed a new constitution and launched a voter registration campaign.
During a special presentation, Khanna honored the tradition of thanking councilmembers personally in a speech. Notably, Khanna said to Vice President of Finance Conrad Ohashi, “”Dude. You are the baddest-ass guy I know.””
Khanna noted that Ohashi made campus finances much less bureaucratic, then thanked him for “”all the fat-free candy.””
He also emphatically thanked Associate Vice President of Student Advocacy Lindsay Root for standing up for “”students getting screwed by this campus’s policies,”” and for understanding how little power students have.
Khanna stressed that fact again while addressing President-elect Marco Murillo, advising him to take advantage of every opportunity he has to increase student power.
He also told Murillo he thought Murillo would be a “”kick-ass”” president.
