Natalie’s departure seemed fitting, as change was a running theme for last night’s meeting.  Council began its first meeting of Spring Quarter with a quick election to replace AVP Diversity Affairs Jesus Romero as speaker. Romero emailed his resignation as speaker on Monday and President Alyssa Wing, who was filling in temporarily, was quick to solicit nominations for a replacement.The two nominated candidates, Advocate General Courtney Hill and VP Student Life Meredith Madnick each made brief speeches, before council elected Hill as the new Speaker.

During the logistical planning of the impromptu election, VP Finance & Resources Kevin Hoang wondered aloud if the Speaker job conflicted with the Advocate General job.

“We need Mac back, he could decide this for us,” Campuswide Senator Matthew Bradbury said, referring to former AVP Academic Affairs Mac Zilber, who graduated last quarter. Bradbury’s comment was met with a chorus of “awwww” from council, who decided that Hill was eligible to be speaker.

Once Hill assumed the mic, Romero announced a new campus-wide poster campaign about ending stereotypes called ‘We’re Individuals.’ He asked that members of council email him stereotypes that they would like to see included on the poster.

AVP College Affairs Leonard Bobbitt tried recruiting councilmembers to attend a dodgeball game in the RIMAC Rec Gym between A.S. Council and various college councils on Saturday night. Unfortunately, not everyone will have a chance to throw balls at councilmembers personally, so we hope our own college councils can represent us well.

Wing said that she hoped that council would be active and take an official stance on California Assembly Speaker John Perez’s proposed middle class scholarships for public universities. 

AVP Enterprise Operations Brian McEuen announced that Triton Outfitters has started allowing student-run organizations to sell T-shirts through the A.S.-run boutique. He also noted that the retail outlet for TO, currently in Price Center, will move to the Old Student Center near the Soft Reserves. It’s always nice to have new neighbors, and TO will soon be below our new offices. Maybe we can get some cool T-shirts too.

Before council went on a recess to attend a vigil and go to practice for UCSD Lipdub 2012, council cheered as Warren College Student Council RFAC Representative Samuel Chang was tapped to replace Zilber as interim AVP Academic Affairs. He has big shoes to fill, and hopefully he’s ready for the challenge.