Alleged racial remarks by a vendor on Library Walk —toward an African-American student after her booth was robbed — made for a prolonged debate at the A.S. meeting last night.
During public input, AVP Local Affairs Aries Yumul brought Tuesday’s “attack on a student of color” to the council’s attention.
“This is happening in 2009 on our campus on Library Walk,” Yumul said. “This isn’t ignorance; there is zero tolerance for actions of hatred.”
AVP Academic Affairs and University Centers Advisory Board chair Jordan Taylor warned the council that they might soon see a referendum regarding a Loft programming fee of $4.91 per student per quarter. He mentioned a potential partnership with the Graduate Student Association in an effort to lower the fee to $4.04.
Student consultants for the Center for Student Involvement Stephanie Usry and Tiffany Rivera reminded the council of the advantages of One Stop for student leaders and organizations.
Campuswide Senator Adam Kenworthy discussed his A.S. visibility initiatives plan. One of the more interesting and lesser-known ways for students to interact with the council, he said, is the A.S. Events Line — a phone number that students can call anytime for a listing of the day’s events on and off campus. The number is (858) 534-7529.
A.S. President Utsav Gupta announced some recent policy changes that deeply concerned him. He said one change to the electronic policy allows the university to retain copies of all UCSD e-mails for evidence preservation.
“I’ll look further into the policy and see if it is systemwide or if we can even reverse this. I know many students treat their UCSD email like their personal account,” Gupta said.
Vice President of External Affairs Gracelynne West spoke about the Nov. 19 UC Board of Regents meeting, where the regents will vote on a proposed 32-percent student fee increase and new enrollment cuts.
Warren Senator Alyssa Wing and Sixth College Senator Kevin Nguyen said only three councilmembers attended the men’s soccer and women’s volleyball games last week, and strongly encouraged more members to support the athletes.
“After the game, the soccer players saw us walking and asked us, ‘If A.S. loves us, then why are there only thee of you guys?’ We couldn’t refute that,” Wing said.
Councilmembers later returned to the vendor’s racist remarks to a student on Library Walk. Yumul drafted a resolution titled “Resolution for Adherence to UCSD Ideals of Community by Vendors and Non-Affiliates.” However, several councilmembers had issues with its wording.
After numerous failed motions, debate continued for about an hour, and the council’s official position was not resolved by the end of the night.
Marshall Chair Tanvir Dhillon attempted to smooth over any hard feelings created by the heated discussion with some hopeful words.
“Even though we may disagree, I hope we can still be friends and love each other outside of this room,” Dhillon said.
