Due to a recent rape at a Revelle College parking lot, Nancy Wahlig of the Sexual Assault Resource Center paid a visit at last night’s council meeting to inform councilmembers about resources available for victims of sexual crime.
Lumumba-Zapata Coalition member Sam Huang delivered a passionate speech on the alleged cancer cluster in the Literature Building and pushed the council to approve a resolution she drafted demanding that the university take immediate action to relocate the staff and faculty in the building, which councilmembers did not consider.
Associate Vice President of External Affairs Lisa Chen, Arts and Humanities Senator Sam Jung and Muir College Chair Mabel Tsang gave a presentation on the state budget and the toll it has and will continue to take on higher education, specifically the University of California system.
Free-Speech committee members James Baldwin and Associate Vice President of Local Affairs Erin Brodwin then gave the most up-to-date information on the campus free-speech policy, which should be complete in a few more weeks.
The council then moved to approve a resolution supporting the UC Student Association’s College Affordability Act of 2009, a measure which calls for a five-year freeze on fees for resident UC and CSU undergraduate students, prevention of future increases from surpassing the inflation index and raises the income tax by 1 percent for millionaires.
The council also approved a resolution for the Sustainable Concept Design of phase four of the Wedge that was introduced last week.
A.S. Speaker Jordan Taylor would not allow the resolution to support all affiliates of the Literature Building to be added to the new business section of the meeting because the language of the resolution was not submitted last Friday as is required by proper protocol. This incited a debate over whether or not to overturn the decision.
‘This issue [of the alleged cancer cluster] has been around for weeks,’ Sixth College Senator John Cressey said. ‘I do understand that this is timely but I think e-mail traffic would have been good on the listserv. This [document] is timely but would have been even more so last Thursday.’
The speaker’s decision was not overturned and the council moved on to announcements from councilmembers.
All-Campus Senator Chris Westling enthusiastically informed the council that the Web site for the Save the Wedge campaign is now up and running. The site includes a history of the planning and development of the four phases of the Wedge, and the Sustainable Concept Design proposal for the final phase of the project.
Revelle College Senator Brian Youm informed the council that the search for a new Revelle provost is now over, and the new provost will be announced next quarter.
Vice President of Finance and Resources Naasir Lakhani announced that the Grove Caffe will be working with the Deejay and Vinylphiles Club for a weekly event called DJ Thursdays, an initiative to increase student traffic and business in Student Center.
‘Let’s all come out and support [the Old Student Center] as much as possible,’ Lakhani said.