University Centers Advisory Board Chair Nicole Metildi and Vice Chair Albert Trujillo presented council with information to help members decide whether to re-certify the Master Space Agreement they have with UCSD’s co-operatives. Metildi and Trujillo reported that the co-ops — Groundworks, the General Store, the Food Co-Op and the Che Café — owe over $100,000 to University Centers and that the Che Cafe lost its non-profit status by not submitting tax forms for three consecutive years.
Associate Vice President of Enterprise Operations Brian McEuen heard plenty of catcalls after being declared this week’s Councilmember of the Week.
“You go, you sexy man!” a councilmember yelled.
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Samuel Chang told council about rising tuition costs and called to attention the California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960, which recommended that tuition should not be charged to California residents. The proportion of the state’s general funds that goes to the UC system has gone from 8 percent to 2 percent over the last 40 years.
He also reported on a new tax by the UC Office of the President which has already been imposed on UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara The tax caused UCSB to freeze all funding for student organizations to pay off the $180,000 the university was fined.
“UCOP passed this in July, but no one knew about this until April,” Chang. “This means a lot about the communication between the Regents and A.S.”
A.S. President Alyssa Wing and Campuswide Senator Matthew Bradbury gave a special presentation focused on internal reform and restructuring the A.S. standing committees. The council spent a good deal of time deliberating the impact this change would have for future councils.
“These committees as they are now, exist as rubber stamps,” Wing said.
She and Bradbury proposed dividing the two current committees (finance and campus affairs) into four: legislative, finance, rules and campus outreach.
“Not everyone on each committee is actively participating in their committees, so why not have people on smaller committees that they have to answer to and that they are good at?” Bradbury said.
AVP of Student Advocacy Bryce Farrington noted that the council’s unanimous vote to approve a resolution in opposition to the policies of the revised Student Conduct Code did not fall on deaf ears. He reported that the administration will address student concerns by specifying police’s off-campus jurisdiction and dealing with the judicial boards.
The council voted unanimously to give the ASUCSD Lip Dub a new allocation of funds in order to re-film the Lip Dub, as the first was not of the quality expected and did not accurately represent the campus and the organizations involved.
