Budget revisions and committee bills dominated last night’s lengthy meeting, run by Revelle College Council Chair James Lintern because A.S. Speaker Jordan Taylor was busy showcasing his Colbie Caillat-covering talent at the Mr. Alpha Chi pageant.
During his report, Associate Vice President of Student Organizations Utsav Gupta informed the council that this year’s ‘Vagina Monologues’ production has run into a bewildering obstacle one week before opening night: The UCPD notified the production crew that additional security was necessary at the event.
‘It’s really last minute, but they have to pay for security for an event that’s never required security before,’ Gupta said. ‘This is a similar situation as [the Deejays and Vinylphiles Club] had a little while ago. We’re leveraging to get the fee waived.’
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Lana Blank and Undergraduate Scholastic Grants Director Mike McLaughlin gave an entertaining and informative presentation on the current funding situations for Course and Professor Evaluations and Undergraduate Scholastic Grants.
Due to state- and nation-wide budget cuts, U.S. Grants are on the verge of being dramatically slashed. Blank and McLaughlin proposed that the council foot the $15,000 bill for C.A.P.E. operation costs so the federal funding that currently supports both programs could be applied exclusively toward U.S. Grants to ensure continued funding for undergraduate research.
Winter Quarter budget revisions began with the approval of Programming line-item adjustments, including a measure to fix discrepancies left by Sun God Festival 2008.
‘We have to make Sun God bigger,’ Blank said. ‘If we don’t give people the Sun God of their lives, we’re going to get a shitstorm.’ After a lengthy discussion, C.A.P.E. was awarded $12,500, the same operations budget it had last year.
The council subsequently haggled over a $13,000 funding allocation for events to be held at the Grove Caffe.
After the Grove was denied event funding, amendments to the Special Rules of Order that would limit the speaker’s list to members of the council, and changes to the Standing Rules Election Code regarding abstention votes, were both approved after intensive scrutiny.
During New Business, the special committee charged with drafting a resolution regarding the ceasefire in Gaza announced its dissolution, because one group decided to pull out of the drafting process.
Associate Vice President of Local Affairs Erin Brodwin and Associate Vice President of External Affairs Lisa Chen petitioned to have the funds for the Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento released, which were frozen due to discomfort with the process of selecting the delegation that will attend.
The forum’s lights were shut off at 2 a.m. and councilmembers continued to argue in the dark, making little progress. Ultimately, the funds were unfrozen and everyone stalked out of the Price Center East’s fourth floor after yet another eight-hour meeting.