Last night’s A.S. Council meeting started off smoothly, but
hit roadblocks while reviewing finance bills and confronting the council’s lack
of participation in local affairs.
The council arrived at a general consensus while amending
its election rules to make use of single transferable votes. The adoption of
STV, which required years of collaboration with TritonLink programmers, will
allow students to rank A.S. candidates during elections instead of only voting
for their top choices.
But consensus did not make a return appearance. A finance
bill sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt College Senator Stephanie Usry encountered
a surprising amount of council scrutiny.
Usry requested $459 to orchestrate “Triton Tuesday” next
quarter. She is seeking to bolster school spirit campuswide by setting up a
screen printer on Library Walk (on Tuesday, for alliterative effect) and
offering to print “Triton Pride” logos on students’ otherwise spiritless
unadorned shirts.
Thurgood Marshall College Senator Kyle Samia said that the
project should be funded by Triton Tide, UCSD’s “elite spirit crew,” and debate
continued about purchasing the equipment instead of renting it, use of the
printer by other organizations, the need for further research on pricing and a
string of additional concerns.
Sixth
College Senator John
Cressey expressed his disappointment with the council’s skepticism over the
proposal.
“She’s done her research,” he said. “If you don’t trust
finance committee then I’m not very happy about that. Finance Committee has
done their research.”
After the bill passed, the council considered establishing a
public events manager for A.S. Programming. The new position, which would cost
about $47,000 a year, is designed to ameliorate the council’s growing need for
event planning.
Vice President of External Affairs Dorothy Young said the
position shouldn’t be created until the council secures funding, but the group
still voted in favor of its creation.
At current funding levels, the position can only be
supported for three or four years unless students approve a fee increase or the
council cuts other areas of the budget.
Tension returned during open forum, when Associate Vice
President of Local Affairs Aida Kuzucan took the floor to talk about the
council’s lack of participation at the Dec. 2 La Jolla Christmas Parade.
“This past Sunday I sat on a sidewalk for a half-hour,” she
started, before being interrupted by Biological Sciences Senator Emma Sandoe for
speaking about council matters during open forum, which Sandoe said was a violation
of Robert’s Rules.
“Are you serious?” Kuzucan asked repeatedly over Sandoe’s
protests. “Let me finish. I sat on Sunday on the sidewalk for a half-hour
dressed as an elf. No one showed up. No one felt the initiative to show up.”
Kuzucan had to inform event organizers that UCSD would not
be participating in the parade.
Although she was visibly upset at the meeting, her dismay
changed to a desire to increase council participation in local affairs next
quarter, and just in time for New Year’s resolutions.