Greetings, all! I will be taking over the A.S Council column. Unfortunately, my Wednesday class extends onto the meeting, causing me to arrive 30 minutes late.

Upon my arrival, VP Finance Sean O’Neal asked VP External Affairs Vanessa Garcia about what recently occurred during a TA strike in UC Santa Cruz.

“Twenty TA’s were blocking the street and were harassed and arrested,” Garcia said. “…based from pictures, they were clearly nonviolent and this is definitely a cause for concern. The fact that we have a strike on campus right now is really, really frightening.”

Campus-wide Senator Austin Peters held the floor when asking whether the cost will stay the same at $1200 or go down.

Social Sciences Senator Colin King responded by saying it will remain fairly consistent at $2000.

Having arrived 30 minutes late, I was extremely confused during the discussion on all the numbers.

Vice President of Student Life Linda Le motioned to approve the Updated Transportation Referendum Language, that originally failed with a vote of 23-1-1 because members of A.S. left for no explained reason, so it did not meet the required quorum to pass. However, O’Neal reconsidered his vote, after members returned from their hiatus and moved for a second roll call on the Transportation Referenda. With a vote of 28-0-1, the referendum passed.

If I may be so bold, I believe O’Neal purposefully voted against the Referendum in order to reconsider his vote after enough A.S. members had returned. Who knew that voting against the Referendum would end up saving it!

Later in the meeting, tensions arose when Revelle Senator Soren Nelson questioned why many A.S. Council members were absent during the original vote on transportation.

“Was there a reason you all left the [Forum]?” Nelson said. “[Leaving] jeopardized something we have worked so hard on for so long.”

Ironically, one of the absent members, Physical Sciences Senator Sierra Donaldson, called attention to the lack of effort A.S. Council places in supporting one another.

“We should all make an effort to support our fellow senators,” Donaldson said. “I’m not trying to lecture you all but this is very important. I can be doing better and all of you can too.”

A.S. Council President Andy Buselt persuaded A.S. Council to vote for the transportation bill, while O’Neal brought attention to the Compton Cookout and stressed the importance of illustrating how racist it was.

“I want everyone to really critically think about that moment and the history and the context that the entire event was in. I highly encourage everyone to engage someone who wasn’t here and talk to them about it,” said O’Neal.

I wasn’t there, talk to me!

Overall, it was quite a bustling meeting (sarcasm included). From the looks of it, the Transportation Bill should pass — that is, if A.S. Council doesn’t step out for a potty break during the middle of it.