Clocking in at slightly less than three hours, last night’s meeting was brief for a council that has watched many a day change at the spacious Price Center East Forum.
Motivated by 10th-week assignments and a sparse agenda, councilmembers dedicated the bulk of their evening to discussion of the Resolution in Support of Eliminating Bottled Water at UCSD, which was eventually passed. Fran Avendano of the Social and Environmental Sustainability Committee got the ball rolling with a rousing PowerPoint presentation outlining the necessity and feasibility of plastic-bottle elimination ‘mdash; complete with compostable-cup clipart and three ideas to ensure co-eds stay hydrated through Sun God’s headliner.
After a few questions for Avendano, councilmembers put the water chat on ice for two special presentations. The first came from Director of Special Events and Protocol Judy Lane, who sought bright ideas from the council for UCSD’s upcoming 50th anniversary. The yearlong celebration ‘mdash; tentatively themed ‘Genius is in the Doing’ ‘mdash; will include annual Triton events like Sun God, and incorporate new anniversary-based ones like Founder’s Day or a community service day.
Arundathi Gururajan, A.S. representative to the Registration Fee Committee, was responsible for the second presentation: an update on how the reg fee budget is faring through systemwide cuts (not well), an indistinct rundown of the fee-funded ‘clusters’ and a request that councilmembers rank the clusters in order of student preference.
Confused as to why the committee would be feeling budget strain given that its revenue is constant (it’s from students, not Sacramento, so while our state may be scraping bucket bottom, attendance has steadily increased to its current plateau), councilmembers had lots of questions for Gururajan. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to answer many of them because of the committee’s top-secret nature.
Undeterred by their evasive guest, councilmembers continued their inquiries until All-Campus Senator Meghan Clair, so disgruntled she was about ready to rip off her Ugg boot and throw it across the council floor, brought a swift end to fruitless questioning.
And after a few reports it was water time once again. Supporters ‘mdash; led by resolution sponsor and All-Campus Senator Chris Westling ‘mdash; encouraged the council to outlaw plastic bottles, as it has previously done with Styrofoam and plastic bags, arguing that plastic bottles are an unnecessary feature of modern marketing.
However, some on the council were unsure of the measure’s practicality. Wary of SESC-proposed water jug cleanliness and upset that the committee hadn’t contacted many of those affected by a possible plastic-bottle ban, Clair called the resolution a ‘gross exercise of power, limiting students’ rights to make informed decisions as consumers.’ And Associate Vice President of Advocacy Frank Carroll implored the council to research the implications of such a ban before approving it.
But as Associate Vice President of Athletic Relations Peter Benesch pointed out: resolutions aren’t policy, they’re suggestions. And ultimately the measure passed.