Last night’s council meeting opened with a special
presentation from the Board of Directors of S.P.A.C.E.S., the Student Promoted
Access Center for Education and Services.

The presentation began with a reference to the 1996 passage
of Proposition 209 that banned the use of affirmative action by public
institutions in California. According to the directors’ presentation,
S.P.A.C.E.S. aims to maintain diversity in California’s public higher education
system and assist continuing UCSD students in making it to graduation and
graduate school.

In the spirit of ensuring diversity on campus, S.P.A.C.E.S.
plans to promote UCSD to middle school and high school students at admissions
information sessions. The directors also hope to advertise the junior-transfer
program on community college campuses to encourage more underrepresented
students to enroll at UCSD by hosting an overnight program for minority
admitted students this spring.

The organization was created this year because of funding
secured through the Promoting Understanding and Learning through Service and
Education referendum. It was approved by 56 percent of voters last year and
added $7 to the quarterly campus activity fee.

According to the presentation, S.P.A.C.E.S. will be spending
a sizable portion of its funds this year to buy supplies to furnish its
office-to-be in the new Price Center. Next year, more funding will be freed up,
allowing the group to hire mentors and advisers.

Regular business resumed after the special presentation, but
didn’t give rise to any substantive debates.

Earl Warren College Senator Peter Benesch explained the
importance of addressing parking concerns.

“Demand will be out of control by 2010,” he said. According
to Benesch, three different locations for new parking structures are under
consideration.

He described the possible locations by verbalizing an
invisible mid-air map of UCSD and waving his fingers through the John Muir,
Revelle, and Sixth College campuses to indicate the relative positions of the
proposed structures. Benesch reported that the sites for the Muir and Revelle
garages were about one inch away on his air map, but was unable to provide a
scale for the map to the council.

During question time, Benesch asked Vice President of
Student Life Donna Bean about the rescheduling of the Nov. 30 Bear Garden.
According to Bean, the first Bear Garden earlier this year was rescheduled at
the last minute to start at 3 p.m., instead of 1 p.m., because Vice Chancellor
of Student Affairs Penny Rue expressed concern that the greater number of
students on campus at the earlier time would lead to more students skipping
class for the free beer.

November’s Bear Garden was briefly cancelled due to conflicts
over scheduling before negotiations with Rue led it to be revived for Nov. 30
with a 2 p.m. start time.

If the talk of parking garages and event scheduling
threatened to become too dull, Thurgood Marshall College Senator Kyle Samia
came to the rescue with his proposal to form a task force to explore the
possibility of holding a “fabulous parade” at UCSD next year. He did not
elaborate on his plans to meld marching and fabulosity.