Last night was a’ long emotional rollercoaster, as it was the last meeting of the year for the 2008-09 A.S. Council.
The council passed resolutions in support of implementing ‘a-g’ requirements in all high schools in San Diego County, creating a graffiti landmark on campus and upholding corporate social responsibility.
Following the approval of the resolutions, councilmembers, Grove Caffe student manager Thomas Frank and 2006 Revelle College alumnus Rachel Corell debated for nearly three hours over whether or not to cease operation of the struggling eatery. The council voted to keep the cafe open.
South Asian student organization Sangam put in a last-minute funding request for their culture show, which is set to take place this Saturday at the Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego. The item was allowed into the new business section, and Sangam was heavily criticized for asking for additional funding for the tradition event for yet another year.
‘I would have been fine with this three weeks ago. I just think that this is really irresponsible,’ Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Lana Blank said. ‘They asked for $3,000, we decided to give them $5,000, I don’t even know how finance came to that conclusion.’
Associate Vice President of Programming Garrett Berg sheepishly admitted that he had motioned to fund $5,000 based off of the organization’s request for $10,000, not realizing that $3,000 was the actual requested amount.
Revelle College Senator Katie Hall successfully motioned to amend the amount awarded to be $3,000, and the council approved the funding request despite the immense level of dissatisfaction with the organization.
All-Campus Senator Chris Westling’s proposal to have the council scrutinize the updated campus speech policy was not allowed into new business, and will subsequently be one of the many happy tasks for the new council to square away in the following weeks.
Many councilmembers waxed sentimental over the experiences of working with one another during open forum, including Sixth College Senator John Cressey, who said with feeling, ‘I’ll carry A.S. in my heart forever.’
Berg informed the council about the A.S. Sun God store, which occupies the former STA Travel space next to the box office. He begged councilmembers to help out at the Sun God festival, promising volunteers one-of-a-kind staff T-shirts and unlimited in-and-out privileges in the festival area.
Blank congratulated the council for passing the most resolutions and featuring the most intense public inputs she has ever witnessed. She ended her mini-speech by leading a vigorous applause around the forum for President Donna Bean.
Bean gave a few words of wisdom to incoming President-elect Utsav Gupta before giving a few thanks of her own.
‘We got really lucky with the people we’ve worked with,’ Bean said. ‘I’m just extremely proud of everyone for being extremely invested. I hope I see you again, just not here.’