A.S. Council is planning to evaluate the effectiveness of the associate vice president of environmental and social justice affairs position this week. The position, which was first created during Fall Quarter 2012, is up for review after the first year the position was filled.
The introduction of the position in October 2012 was originally subjected to a long debate among councilmembers, ultimately passing with a 23-0-4 vote. Vice President External Affairs-elect Vanessa Garcia was the first candidate to assume the position in Winter Quarter 2013.
A.S. President Meggie Le explained the necessity of evaluating the success and future necessity of this newly created position.
“Because it was a new position, we decided to use this first term as a trial period that would undergo evaluation in spring quarter, before the current council terms out,” Le said.
A.S. Council originally wrote in its Memorandum of Understanding that the position would be up for renewal in Spring Quarter 2013.
“This is not a change,” Le said. “It was something that we had originally planned since the creation of this position.”
The evaluation committee will consist of President Meggie Le, Vice President of Student Life Cody Marshall and Vice President of Finance and Resources Bryan Cassella. In addition, five senators, including Irene Chang, Payton Carrol, Jerry Narez, Mariko Kuga and current senator/President-elect Andy Buselt will be present.
The committee will make recommendations for the approval of the office by Week 5 and will submit a new Memorandum of Understanding of the position or terminate the office as it stands.
“After this trial period, I think the office is absolutely crucial to uphold,” Garcia said. “Although the position focuses on many issues that are in conjunction with the work of the [Student Sustainability Collective], I think that this position has really helped to bring concerns of the students back to the administration.”
Specific goals for the position include bringing together efforts of A.S. Council, student organizations and college councils at UCSD to achieve the university’s goal of being a zero-waste campus by 2020.
