I walked into the A.S. Council meeting hoping that the scene from “Mean Girls” when Lindsay Lohan’s character imagines everyone acting like wild animals would play out. But I ended up feeling like Miles Tellers’ character in “Whiplash” after J.K. Simmons threw a chair at him and made him exclaim, “I’m upset!” Why, you ask? Because the resolution to impeach A.S. President was tabled indefinitely in legislative committee prior to the start of the meeting.
Like always, the meeting began with Public Input. Students from the Armenian Student Association and Alpha Gamma Alpha, the Armenian sorority of UCSD, discussed an issue with funding for an event commemorating the Armenian Genocide. Council granted some money to the event, but there was a contractual dispute with the planned speakers and Council did not approve the funds for the speakers. Representatives from the ASA and AGA explained the cultural importance of UCSD hosting this event and emphasized that it is part of UCSD and A.S. Council’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, this commemoration — the only one in San Diego — raises awareness to this often-forgotten tragedy and educates people on genocide. Council was debating this for what seemed like hours, and the entire time I was thinking, “Gosh, just give them the damn money!” But, alas, they denied the appeal to fund the speakers but approved the funding for other aspects of the event, such as student performers.
The next person who spoke also pled Council to make an exception for funding.VP of Finance for the Interfraternity Council Skylar Jacobs requested funding for Sigma Chi’s annual event, Derby Days, which raises money and awareness for cancer research. When submitting the form to request funding, the website timed out and none of the information was saved. Because he submitted the form minutes before the time it was due, he did not have sufficient time to fill it out again. He asked that Council make an exception because the website did not inform him that it would time out after a certain amount of time. Jacobs also explained the importance of this event to the UCSD community, since Derby Days is one of the few Greek-sponsored events that brings together both Greeks and non-Greeks and it is incredibly important to educate the campus on this important issue. After a short debate among the council members, Council agreed to fund the event with a 15–4–5 vote.
The debates surrounding these two pleas for funding concerned some council members regarding precedence for similar incidents in the future. For example, is a website time-out technicality grounds for making an exception? Should there be leniency when an appeal due date occurs at the end of Week 10/Finals Week? These were things to be considered for the future.
In other news, AVP Austin Peters has peaced out. And now, so will I.
