ASUC SENATE MEETING
January 25, 2012
First Week
This regular meeting of the ASUC Senate, the first meeting of the semester, was called to order by Chris
Alabastro at 7:11 p.m. in the ASUC Senate Chamber. Mr. Alabastro said he would like to welcome them
back.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Mr. Alabastro called for any changes to the minutes from the December 7 meeting. Seeing none, he
called for a motion to approve. It was so moved and seconded. THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE
MINUTES FROM THE DECEMBER 7, 2011 SENATE MEETING PASSED WITH NO OBJECTION.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA (Feb. 1)
Mr. Alabastro said there will be a few guest announcements at next week’s meeting. He called for a
motion to approve. It was so moved and seconded. THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA FOR
THE FEBRUARY 1 MEETING PASSED WITH NO OBJECTION.
REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES TO THE ASUC
Report from the UCPD Liaison
Sgt. Le Roy Harris said he was glad to see everybody made it back safely. During curtailment, with population on campus greatly reduced, and property crimes declined. They have started to increase slightly
since classes resumed. Since January 17, he was somewhat pleased, but still disappointed, that there was
only one alcohol injury where somebody needed to be transported to the hospital; and there was only one
citation issued to a UC Berkeley student for being a minor in possession of alcohol. With people coming
back, Sgt. Harris said they thought that number would be higher.
Sgt. Harris said he hoped Senators subscribe to the alert bulletins. On January 16, at Deutsch Hall, the
police suspect that two roommates who were asleep left their door unlocked. Someone entered between
midnight and 3 a.m. and stole personal property. They were woken about 3:30 by a resident who
informed them that their door was open, and that’s when they discovered property had been taken. They
don't know if the suspect is a student or someone who tailgated behind someone and gained access to the
residence.
Report from the UCPD Liaison (cont'd)
-2-
On January 19, at approximately 7:49, a knife was brandished involving two non-affiliates having a disagreement, on the 2300 block of Channing, half a block down from Unit 3. They know each other and the
victim provided the police with a name. Also on January 19, around 8:30, there was a 211, a robbery of
personal property. It wasn't known if the victim was affiliated. It occurred at Channing near Atherton,
via a handgun.
On January 20, at approximately 10:30, there was a robbery via strong arm, where someone threatens by
force or knocks the victim down. It doesn't involve a weapon. There were three suspects on Channing
and Piedmont. The UCPD spotted the suspects on Channing, south of Unit 3. They were detained and
positively identified and arrested by the Berkeley Police Department. They were unsuccessful because
the victim struggled back. The suspects remained in the area, possibly looking for additional victims,
posing a hazard to the campus community.
On January 22, at approximately 10:20, at Dwight and Hilegass, by People's Park, there was a robbery via
handgun where two suspects confronted an individual. Personal property was taken. It was unknown if
the victim was affiliated. At 2:45 a.m. an individual walking southbound on Piedmont near Haste was
approached by three individuals who knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the head. He was
taken to the hospital, and the BPD was notified. Sgt. Harris said there seemed to be an increasing level of
crimes against persons.
On the 24th, at about 4:30 p.m., a female student walking through the loading dock of Unit 1 was
approached by three suspects, knocked to the ground, and ended up with injuries on her arm. They went
through her pockets and took an iPod she was listening to.
Sgt. Harris said they're still seeing bicycles, laptops, wallets, and backpacks being taken when left unattended. Anything the Senate could do to help notify people about that would be appreciated. He called
for any questions.
Mr. Albright asked if there was any indication why the man was pushed to the ground and kicked in the
head. Sgt. Harris said there wasn't anything he saw in the Crime Alert. They suspect it was robbery.
Sgt. Harris said he also wanted to talk about a new shuttle service, with larger shuttles, relatively new,
2011 vehicles, from Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation, which now has a contract with UC Berkeley. The
UCPD Web site has links to Parking and Transportation for the hours, 8:05 to 2 a.m., when shuttles will
pick people up at stops and take people to their door. At 2 a.m. it's door-to-door, the same service the
CSOs used to provide. There's also an article about the service in The Berkeleyan. The drivers are UC
employees. An agreement was reached to protect the jobs of these employees for a period of time. He
believed there are 18 bus drivers.
Mr. Landgraf asked how long the contract was for. Sgt. Harris said he believed it's a couple of years.
Ms. Mecklai asked if the shuttle stops are the same as Night Safety Shuttles. Sgt. Harris said they would
be, as far as he knew. They just found out about this and he’d get more details. There's a smart app
showing where shuttles are. Seeing no other questions, Mr. Alabastro said he would like to thank him.
Roll call was taken for attendance.
Report from the Chancellor’s Designee (cont'd)
-3-
MEMBERS LEGALLY PRESENT:
Andrew Albright
Tiffany Chia
Brisa Diaz
Sydney Hai Fang
Anthony Galace
Elliot Goldstein
Ju Young Hong
Noah Ickowitz
Sheldon Lam
Connor Landgraf
Safeena Mecklai
Sharanjit Sandhu
Justin Sayarath
Annie Shin
Nairi Shirinian
Daniel Ternan
Kevin Williams
Christine Yun
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Shahryar Abbasi
Aviv Gilboa
Report from the Chancellor's Designee
Dean Jonathan Poullard said he wanted to wish them a happy New Year and wanted to introduce Tim, a
friend of 27 years. They went to college together. With Senators being in school, having friends in 25
years is a good thing.
Mr. Poullard said he’s been in contact with the student who was beaten up, and with his mother. He had
to have oral surgery. Mr. Poullard said the thing that raised a concern for him was that the student was
walking by himself. They shouldn’t do that, and should walk in gangs, with lots of folks, especially at
night. Hopefully the student will be back in school on Monday. He had surgery on Tuesday and another
that day. Hopefully he’ll be able to make up his classes.
Mr. Poullard said they also had a death, Vladamir Debabov, a student in the Haas School of Business. He
was in an accident that weekend near Davis, on Saturday. Mr. Poullard said it's never an easy time for
him when he has to call someone’s family member because of a death or an injury. If Senators knew this
person, Mr. Poullard said he would urge them to reach out to those communities, particularly at Haas, and
to make sure that they receive support and that people were aware of his death. He was in the business
fraternity.
Mr. Poullard said Amanda Carlton, the Interim Director for the Center for Student Leadership, is leaving
on Thursday for Georgetown. They'll miss her a great deal. She’s been instrumental in working with Jan
Crowder, Millicent Morris-Chaney, Rob Jittrikawiphol, and others, and with student organizations on the
campus. Mr. Poullard said he was happy for Ms. Carlton as this was the next step in her professional
career. She’s had a powerful, positive impact on student organizations and people in the room. They'll
continue the Transition Planning Team process.
Mr. Poullard said he’s meeting with the Executive Director search firm next week and the firm will meet
with many Senators as well, and have open forums to get feedback and information on what people think
is important for the new ED. Hopefully they'll have the person on board before June 1, if they're lucky.
Mr. Poullard said he wanted to thank the Office of the President for the Taste of Berkeley that week. It
was really nice, and he got some yummy food for only $5. He also wanted to thank Sen. Williams,
Report from the Chancellor’s Designee (cont'd)
-4-
EAVP Freeman, and the Student Regents Stein and Mireles, who met with him, along with 20 other student leaders on Monday, and Regent Lansing. It was a very productive conversation that was open,
direct, and honest. He thought it opened up the doors for future conversations by student leaders, both
grad and undergrad, with the Regents, to think about where there could be partnerships and collaborations, and to strengthen communication from the Regents to the students. One issue that was raised is that
there's really only one Student Regent, which was difficult with ten campuses and students trying to get
information to be informed. So they're looking at a proposal to increase the number of students on the
Board of Regents.
Mr. Poullard said there will be a town hall on the 31st with Dean Chris Edley, from the Law School, and
Charlie Robinson, General Counsel for the OP. Senators will get an e-mail on Thursday and he would
ask them to forward it to their constituents. The town hall will be about use of force by the police during
the November issues. It will be from 4:00 to 6 p.m. in Pauley Ballroom. The e-mail will go out to all
students. The more folks who are there, the better.
On February 8, Jonathan Stein and Alfredo Mireles will be back on campus for their annual Student
Regent visit. They'll have meetings with student constituencies, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs,
and Health Services, and have an information session about how to become a Student Regent. Berkeley
has a very proud tradition of having many Student Regents, and hopefully that trend can continue. Senators will get more information from the Dean of Students Liaisons.
Mr. Poullard said he was going to follow-up with the EVP about concerns and feedback regarding the
blue ASUC signboard in the middle of Upper Sproul. There have been a lot of graffiti attacks to it. It's
never used and sits empty most days. They had to either take it down, which would be the Senate’s call,
or figure out some way to manage it better, and consistently clean it up and put in new information.
Unfortunately, the ASUC can't clean it up itself and they had to go through the University’s process. Mr.
Poullard said he wasn't sure who to engage about this, whether that would be the Senate or a committee.
He called for any questions.
Mr. Galace asked about an update for the search for the new director for the Office of Undergrad Admissions. Mr. Poullard said the process is done. They have given their recommendations to Anne De Luca
and Harry LeGrande, the Associate Vice Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor, and the ball is in their court
on whether to accept the committee’s recommendations. Mr. Poullard said the minute he knew anything
he’d let the Senate know.
Mr. Galace asked if the individual would be involved in the selection process in upcoming admissions.
Mr. Poullard said they wouldn't be. The campus was already in the admissions cycle. The person will
observe the process and may be involved in activities post announcement of the next class, such as with
Cal Day. They won't be reading applications. The readers in Admissions stay home most days as there
are 61,000 applications this year; and they all had to be read twice.
Mr. Goldstein asked about the search firm for the Auxiliary director meeting with the ASUC. Mr.
Poullard said they'll meet with him, ASUC staff, student leadership, and Mr. LeGrande, to get as much
information as possible, to make sure they write a job description that represents what people want.
Mr. Goldstein asked if the search firm would get a percentage of the director’s salary, should one be hired
that the firm found. Mr. Poullard said that was correct. Mr. Goldstein asked which firm it is. Mr.
Poullard said it was Spelman & Johnson. The firm will work with the campus until someone is selected.
Report from the Chancellor’s Designee (cont'd)
Guest Announcements --
-5-
Mr. Albright asked when those meetings will take place. Mr. Poullard said they'll be on the 31st. The
firm had a whole day of meetings, mostly with ASUC staff and students.
Ms. Mecklai said the ASUC has an Ad Hoc Committee on Marketing, and she could talk to the Marketing
and Communications Director about using the signboard. Mr. Poullard said that would be really helpful.
He got a quote of how much it would cost to take down, or they could figure out some other way to use it.
Seeing no other questions, Mr. Alabastro said he would like to thank him.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Guest Announcements
Presentation by Johnny Garcia Vasquez, California Student Aid Commissioner, on the Governor’s Proposed 2012-13 Budget
Johnny Garcia Vasquez introduced himself and said he was appointed by Gov. Brown in November to
serve as one of the Student Commissioners on the California Student Aid Commission. The Commission
is in charge of all State financial aid, usually Cal Grants and other entitlements.
Mr. Vasquez said he was present that evening not to speak on behalf of the Commission, but to speak on
behalf of California students, as a student representative, and to give his official stance on the Governor’s
budget and the impact it would have on programs for students, especially for low socioeconomic economic students in the State of California who literally depend on these programs.
Mr. Vasquez said that after reviewing the budget, and getting reports from the Commission, he took the
official stance of opposing the budget because the Governor’s proposal is only a temporary, quick solution to education, and makes deep cuts to programs.
Mr. Vasquez said there are two scenarios for the budget, depending on whether taxpayers decide to
approve the Governor’s tax proposals, which would tax the State’s wealthy taxpayers and also temporarily increase the sales tax by one-half percent. If the Governor’s November ballot initiative isn't passed,
there will be additional trigger cuts to education and public safety, basically at $1.5 billion. The cuts
would go into effect on January 1, 2013. The UC and CSU Systems would be reduced by $200 million.
Mr. Vasquez said the budget he was talking about that evening was based on the passage of the Governor’s tax initiatives and addresses the budget deficit with approximately equal shares of cuts and revenues. The proposal would create a stable funding source that would increase the State’s General Fund
contribution to each higher education segment by 4% annually, from 2013-14 to 2015-16. But this is
temporary, for five years.
Under the Governor’s proposal, Cal Grant GPAs would be raised, with Cal Grant A going from 3.0 to
3.25 and Cal Grant B from 2.0 to 2.75. That would affect 26,000 students, mostly in CSU schools and
Guest Announcements -- Presentation by Johnny Garcia Vasquez, California Student Aid
Commissioner, on the Governor’s Proposed 2012-13 Budget
-6-
community colleges. UC students wouldn't be affected as much because the campus requires a 3.0 or
higher.
Another proposal by the Governor would minimize awards going to students who attend non-profits,
independents, and for-profit universities, to $4,000, down from $9,708. The Governor also wants to
phase out Loan Assumption, a forgiveness program for teachers and nurses who go into socially disadvantaged communities to qualify. So the impact wouldn't just be to teachers and nurses, but also on
socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in the State.
Mr. Vasquez said he would like to request that the Senate take a stand supporting the Governor’s tax
initiatives, and to also work with the Governor and the State Legislature to make sure there's a long-term
revenue source that was solely devoted to Cal Grant programs and higher education.
Mr. Vasquez said that after the five-year plan, some State legislators have proposed an oil severance tax
devoted to higher education and to Cal Grants. On Thursday the Commission will have a teleconference
to discuss the Governor’s proposal and the impact it would have on students. Mr. Vasquez said he would
also like to urge Senators to call in and share their concerns. His address was jvasquez@csac.ca.gov. He
called for any questions.
Mr. Hong asked how likely it was that the tax initiative will pass, and if it doesn't, if there was an alternative option. Mr. Vasquez said that if it doesn't pass, the Governor will cut $5.4 billion. Right now there's
no other alternative, and these are the two solutions being proposed. Other people are proposing legislation and different tax initiatives.
Mr. Goldstein asked if the CSAC has taken an official stance. Mr. Vasquez said they're likely to do so on
Thursday. Mr. Goldstein said there are several other initiatives that would also increase revenue. He
asked if there was another initiative Mr. Vasquez favored. Mr. Vasquez said he didn't favor any initiative
for revenue. He just believed there should be tax revenue and that they should urge the State Legislature
to devote long-term tax revenue to higher education and to Pell Grants instead of having a quick, temporary fix.
Mr. Landgraf asked why the Governor decided to propose only temporary taxes and what would change
in the next five years if the initiative passes. Mr. Vasquez said maybe they thought California voters were
more likely to pass a temporary tax initiative. He didn't see any changes in the next five years that would
change this.
Ms. Fang said she would like to thank him for coming in. She asked if students could call into the teleconference and voice their opinion on the budget. Mr. Vasquez said that if they can't call in, he’ll be at
the UCSA office in Oakland and they could come there to do public comment or provide written testimony to be read into the public record. People could send him an e-mail for how to provide written, public comment.
Mr. Albright said the California Student Aid Commission will provide recommendations to the Governor.
He read through the higher education portion of his budget and some cuts made it seem that they were
recommended by the Student Aid Commission. Mr. Vasquez said the Commission does give recommendations to the Governor, but they didn't make any recommendations on the proposed cuts. They haven't
Guest Announcements -- Presentation by Johnny Garcia Vasquez, California Student Aid
-7Commissioner, on the Governor’s Proposed 2012-13 Budget (cont'd)
Special Order of the Day -- Presentation on OSA Staffing Level, by Jan Crowder, Millicent MorrisChaney, and Robert Jittrikawiphol
had a student representative since 2007. Last year the Commission took a stance on identifying cuts, and
that’s where they cut from last year.
Mr. Goldstein said that besides raising the GPA for Cal Grants, he asked if there was any talk about
lowering the income ceiling that would qualify students for Cal Grant, A or B. Mr. Vasquez said there
wasn't. But SB 70 changes the eligibility requirements for applying for Cal Grants, and last year the
Commission increased the assets a student could have, but even if their family made a little bit more, like
$100 or $1,000, they would not be able to qualify for Cal Grants.
Ms. Diaz said she assumed they raised the GPA to reduce the number of people eligible for Cal Grants.
She asked if they were very blunt about low-income students not being able to attend college or able to
transfer, or if there was another reason for doing that. Mr. Vasquez said that’s the Governor’s proposal,
not the Commission’s. In talking to other Commissioners and the Executive Director of the Commission,
they're strongly opposed to this because it lowers student access and affordability. The way the Governor
presented it, it's not cuts, but requirements. But in essence, it was a cut.
Mr. Albright asked if knew why there was a disparity in the amount of the increases between Cal Grant B,
from 2.0 to 2.75, and A, from 3.0 to 3.25. Mr. Vasquez said he didn't know, but the mythology of raising
GPAs is because the Governor believes a higher GPA meant the student was more likely to complete a
degree. But as a community college student, who in high school didn't do very well and then went to
community college, it was a second opportunity for him, and now he’s there. So that wasn't true.
Because of the disparities in resources and opportunity in their society, especially in some communities,
and in the era of budget cuts, they have cut services to students, especially students who need these services to be successful. Without tutoring, academic advising, and counseling, they can't expect students to
be successful.
Mr. Williams asked if the 26,000 students affected by Cal Grants were affected because they didn't have
the GPA requirements. Mr. Vasquez said that was correct. Seeing no other questions Mr. Alabastro said
he would like to thank him.
Mr. Alabastro said there are five boxes of pizza, cheese and pepperoni. People should feel free to grab
some.
SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY -- Presentation on OSA Staffing Level, by Jan Crowder, Millicent
Morris-Chaney, and Robert Jittrikawiphol
Mr. Alabastro said the Chair would entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss OSA staffing level. It was so moved and seconded and passed with no objection. Mr. Alabastro asked anyone who
wasn't an elected official to please step out, except for those involved in the conversation. This meeting
entered into executive session.
Report from the ASUC Auxiliary Director
-8-
Report from the ASUC Auxiliary Director
Back in open session, Ms. Marilyn Stager said she had some quick updates and announcements of things
that happened while they were gone. She hoped they had a great break and wanted to welcome them
back.
The Pac-12 had a Directors’ Conference hosted by USC and UCLA. She and Tom Spivey attended. The
real benefit was to talk to other Directors and Associate Directors from the other 11 campuses in the Pac12. She couldn't count how many have gone through food contracts and are going through construction, a
lot of things Cal was looking at, especially with Lower Sproul. Many of them were in the midst of or just
completed such projects. So it was a great opportunity to meet with them. Ms. Stager said they got a
look at the newly completed Tutor Campus Center at USC, which is amazing.
For Event Services, Vivi Nordahl, ES Supervisor, had a walkthrough that week with Capital Projects and
one of the architects. They reviewed all the deferred maintenance issues in the King Student Union. The
list had 28 items, including replacement of the Pauley partition wall that divides the Ballroom. All of
these items are part of the consideration of the $30 million in project that will be controlled by the campus. The Auxiliary was excited that the campus wanted to see what the issues were and will consider
them. Ms. Stager said they'd hate to see the Lower Sproul project have a new bottom and have the roof
leaking on top.
Ms. Stager said the 5th floor roof of MLK will be waterproofed and will be offline from June 15 through
September 10, except for weekends. Ms. Nordahl scheduled $17,000 worth of revenue on weekends,
mostly weddings. Also, the Lecture Notes manager position was still open. James Walters left on August
31 and the position is still open. There was a pool of candidates, but none of them was really the right
person. So they went out over the holidays and re-posted the position. They'll get applications on Thursday and hopefully find somebody good.
Regarding the Art Studio, Ms. Stager said she was pleased to announce that Katelyn Nomura-Weingrow,
the new Art Studio Supervisor, filled the lab technician position that was open. The person, Michelle
Kloehn, comes from New York City, is an artist by profession, and has worked in museums. Her emphasis is photography, a program that has been lagging in the Studio for a while. They don't have room for
everybody who wants ceramics, but photography has lagged; and Ms. Kloehn has some fabulous ideas.
That’s an area where business can be built up, and more revenue brought in. Ms. Stager called for any
questions. Seeing no questions Mr. Alabastro said he would like to thank her.
--------------Begin written report from Acting Auxiliary Director Stager
January 25, 2012
A.S.U.C. Auxiliary Report
Announcements
1.
PAC-12 Directors’ Conference 1/18 through 1/21
Report from the ASUC Auxiliary Director (cont'd)
Report from the Commercial and Student Services Board
-9-
--------------Written report from Acting ASUC Auxiliary Director Stager (cont'd)
Tom Spivey and I attended the PAC-12 Directors’ Conference hosted by USC and UCLA. We
made great contacts with the other Directors and their associates in addition to touring the newly
completed Tutor Campus Center at USC and the Ackerman Student Union at UCLA.
2.
Events Services
Vivi Nordahl, Events Services Supervisor, had a walkthrough of MLK Jr. Student Union this
week with Capital Projects and the architect to review the deferred maintenance issues in the
building. The list has 28 items including the replacement of the Pauley partition wall. These items
will be considered as part of the $30 million project that will be controlled at the campus level and
is outside the scope of the $193 million Lower Sproul Project.
MLK Jr. Student Union will be closed this summer from June 15th through September 10th excluding weekends in order to waterproof the 5th floor roof.
3.
Lecture Notes/ Marketing Manager open position
The opening for the Lecture Notes/Marketing Manager position was reposted over the holidays
due to not finding a suitable candidate in the first pool. Applications for our review will be available tomorrow, 1/26 and we hope to find the suitable person to head that revenue generating
department.
4.
Art Studio
Katelyn Nomura-Weingrow, Art Studio Supervisor, has hired a new lab technician who started
Monday, 1/23/12. We are excited to add Michelle Kloehn to our talented Studio staff. Michelle
has a vision to expand and enhance our photography program which has been under-supported for
years. This will be a great way to enhance the Art Studio revenue stream.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at mstager@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-0693.
Marilyn Stager, Acting Director
End written report from Acting Auxiliary Director Stager
---------------
Report from the Commercial and Student Services Board (fmly. SOB)
With Romeo Ferrer chairing the meeting, reporting for the Store Operations Board, Ms. Loomba said she
would like entertain a motion to change the item on the agenda from the “Store Operations Board Report”
to the “Commercial and Student Services Board Report,” because they have officially changed the name
Report from the Commercial and Student Services Board (cont'd)
Report from the President
- 10 -
of the SOB to the CSSB. It was so moved and seconded. THE MOTION TO CHANGE THE AGENDA,
TO HAVE THE “STORE OPERATIONS BOARD REPORT” AMENDED TO INSTEAD READ THE
“COMMERCIAL AND STUDENT SERVICES BOARD REPORT” PASSED WITH NO OBJECTION.
Ms. Loomba said the Board will have a retreat on Friday, the second one they've had. The first one was a
great success and was held last fall, when she first came into office as President. The CSSB has made
great strides in the way people work together, and they've done a lot. Hopefully the retreat will be very
productive. She’ll have a full report next week.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE REPORTS
Report from the President
Vishalli Loomba said she was surprised she came back after how crazy last semester was! She hoped
people had a wonderful Winter Break.
"Happy Birthday" was sung for Mr. Alabastro.
Ms. Loomba said a lot of things have been going on over Winter Break. They’re having a series of different events with the Police Review Board. On Tuesday, January 31, there will be a town hall for the
Systemwide review, being done by Pres. Yudof. Dean Edley and Charlie Robinson, General Counsel for
the OP, will be there. The town hall will be in Pauley Ballroom. Until a couple of days ago, they were
working with Public Relations and Harry LeGrande’s office, and the ASUC was just put in the loop
recently. They want to get the word out about this and they definitely want people present who were at
the protest and were directly affected. So she would ask Senators to please get their communities out
there. It was really important for this town hall to have a lot of student participation. They also want
faculty and staff to participate. It was vital to the success of the review to have participants there to
actively engage in the conversation and add something that was meaningful and useful.
Ms. Loomba said she met with the Independent Hearing Officer that week. The position is a result of the
Student Code of Conduct revision, with the position having been added. This is the first position of its
kind in the entire nation. She thought that was incredible. Ms. Loomba the new IHO seems like a great
guy and seems very fair. She would invite Senators to meet with him and to learn about the new Code of
Conduct. Unfortunately, the Conduct revisions don't go into place until this week or next, so if anything
happens prior to that, they won't apply.
Ms. Loomba said that one exciting thing is that she met with Pepsi and has been working with them on
new and exciting ways to market. They're coming up with a lot of things. For one thing, there will be a
soda vending machine in the Senate lounge, with coffee, drinks, and soda. She’s been working hard on
that because she thought it was important for them to have soda late at night. She called for any
questions.
Report from the President (cont'd)
Report from the Academic Affairs Vice President
- 11 -
Mr. Goldstein asked if they could have the Independent Hearing Officer speak to the Senate so they could
meet him. Ms. Loomba said he’ll be coming next week at 8:00. She forgot to mention that.
Mr. Goldstein said he was agnostic on the vending machine in the Senate lounge. Ms. Loomba said there
won't be any water bottles. Mr. Goldstein asked if they could also have healthy options. Ms. Loomba
said she also asked for juices and Gatorade. Seeing no other questions, Mr. Ferrer said he would like to
thank her.
Report from the Academic Affairs Vice President
Julia Joung said she wanted to welcome them back. It was good to see everyone. This was her second
day back. The one big thing she’s been working on was to find people to replace her on two committees
she’s on because they overlap with classes she’s taking that semester. One is CAPRA, the Academic
Senate Committee on Academic Planning and Resource Allocation. A seat is usually left for the AAVP.
It meets Wednesdays at 9 a.m., twice a month. She had an interview with somebody next week. Another
Committee that opened up is CCCPM, Campus Committee on Classroom Policy and Management. It
meets on Fridays at 9 a.m. Ms. Loomba said this position was really important because the ASUC is
working on a new policy to give that the ASUC and the GA priority in booking classrooms a certain
number of times each semester. They've been working on this policy since last semester. Each semester
for six to eight times, student government would get priority in booking rooms. The campus wanted to
limit that and didn't want students to be able to do it directly, and instead, wanted students to go through
staff or Auxiliary. The students were asking for a separate process where the ASUC President would
have a ghost ID every year, just for the ASUC, to do priority booking. As student government, they're not
just any student group, and deserve priority booking for special events for the entire campus. This Committee deals with a lot of important policies, such as why certain buildings have limited access for student
group usage. Dwinelle is heavily used, but Stanley Hall doesn't have any access for groups. If Senators
were interested in these positions they should let her know.
Ms. Joung said that for the rest of the semester they're restructuring the office a little bit. They have a little bandwidth, so if Senators have a personal goal they haven't been able to plan or something they
wanted to get more involved in, the office has staff and time to work on things that semester since they
got a lot done last semester.
Ms. Shirinian asked when she’ll come in to get grants replenished. Ms. Joung said it will be as soon as
the Audit Team gives her the formal numbers from last semester. She wanted to come in once with the
exact numbers that grants need. She hoped it was by mid-February. All of the grants other than the MCF
split their allocation for the two semesters 50-50. MCF split its awards 40-60. They still have money in
each fund, but according to the rate at which they were dispersed last semester, they expect to need more
later.
Ms. Diaz asked if grants were up and running. Ms. Joung said two were up and two were working with
Chris Wong to deal with discrepancies from last semester. The two that are up and running are through
CalLink. Ms. Diaz asked if they’re receiving applications. Ms. Joung said they’re still receiving applications regardless.
Report from the Academic Affairs Vice President (cont'd)
Report from the External Affairs Vice President
- 12 -
Ms. Chia asked how long meetings last for the two Academic Senate positions. Ms. Joung said the
second one is a campus committee and is administrative. The first, CAPRA, is an Academic Senate
Committee, and meets on Wednesday’s from 9:00 to 11:00. CCCPM is one hour. Seeing no other questions, Mr. Alabastro said he would like to thank her.
Report from the External Affairs Vice President
Joey Freeman said that for Local stuff, he wanted to thank everyone who show up at the City Council
meeting. They were there for three hours. A lot of them were very happy with what happened. The City
Council agreed to delay redistricting until after November, 2012. That was a big thing the Office asked
for. And the City Council agreed to put an initiative on the ballot to reform the City Charter, which was
the other big thing they asked the City to do. Since June he’s been talking about those two things and
now they've been done.
Mr. Freeman said the next step was to get Charter reform passed. The Mayor and several Councilmembers will meet in a subcommittee-type of body and work on new Charter language. Students have driven
this entirely, so they will be involved in forming that language. Hopefully they'll come to the same page
and mobilize students to support it. It's only if the Charter reform passes that External Affairs could
actually re-present their plan to get a student on the Council.
Mr. Freeman said he would like to thank the Senate for suspending the By-laws and passing the safety
app. It will be free for one or two years. Ms. Loomba said it's free for one year and then they'll renegotiate the contract and will be able to get it free for another year. They can also break the contract for the
next three years, but it increases every year. It's a five-year contract. But after this first year, for whoever
will advise the next Officers about this, it's until the following spring. It's a great app. They'll have it for
Spring Welcome Week. She said Mr. Freeman’s office worked really hard on having the design perfect
so it was easy for students. It should be finished in a few days. They'll urge the Senate to push it out to
their communities. They'll track usage so next year’s officers can decide if it's worth the nominal amount
of money it costs and whether it was useful.
Mr. Freeman said he was sure a lot of saw that the Berkeley Lab decided to relocate a second campus in
Richmond. They pushed for Berkeley and Ms. Chia went to the hearing on behalf of the External Affairs
Office. It will be a huge boon for the East Bay.
Mr. Freeman said the Local Affairs Working Group was still picking up steam. Julie Sinai is the new
local person representing the Chancellor’s Office, and she’s now officially in her new role. So External
Affairs will set up a meeting with her to figure out the next steps.
In National, Mr. Freeman said they're recruiting for the USSA Legislative Conference on March 23-26 in
DC. They're trying to figure out the budget to see how many students they could send. It's expensive,
given airfare and hotels, but he’ll try to send as many students as possible. They're trying to establish a
pretty aggressive fundraising strategy. If Senators want to go or know people who want to go, he would
ask them to please let him know so they could prioritize people who should be there.
Report from the External Affairs Vice President (cont'd)
- 13 -
Pres. Obama gave the State of the Union address. Mr. Freeman said he hoped everyone watched it. He
looked at the higher education piece and there were some good things. Obama urged Congress to pass
legislation to protect funding for higher education, and it was awesome to see an emphasis on higher education as opposed to just K through 12, which was sometimes the rhetoric that’s heard, especially in State
of the Union addresses.
There was one note of caution in the address. Pres. Obama warned colleges that if they don't figure out a
way to prevent tuition increases, he would strip federal funding. That was clearly not the solution, especially since federal funding was a bigger contributor to higher education than State funding. The federal
government funds research, which was huge for economic development, as well as Pell Grants and loans.
Obama’s threat to cut that funding was not the best thing they could have heard. As there are more
details, Mr. Freeman said the office will develop advocacy around that.
Moving to State matters, Mr. Freeman said he was at the UCSA meeting that weekend at UCSF. Sen.
Fang came out.
Regarding the Prop. 209 campaign, Mr. Freeman said their approach with Prop. 209 was to urge Mark
Yudof to submit an amicus brief to repeal 209. But they found out that they couldn't do that because
Yudof and the UC System are listed as a defendant in the case. So he’s not allowed to submit an amicus
brief. The UCSA decided to pull out of that part of the campaign. The rest of their campaign will be
focused on holistic financial aid policies. They still want to be involved with the effort to repeal Prop.
209 on campus and there will be a meeting on Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 in the Senate Chamber to talk
about the next steps, now that they can't go with their initial plan.
Mr. Freeman said the other big thing related to the budget campaign was which progressive tax measure
to support. Of the two that were gaining attention, one of them, Think Long, which a lot of Senators have
seen, was withdrawn. He believed the Governor was able to figure out how to knock them out, to the
benefit of his plan. But there are still two proposals out there. One is the Governor’s proposal, which Mr.
Vasquez talked about earlier in the meeting, and the other was the millionaire’s tax, which was largely
driven by the Courage Campaign. Califor Reform. Both would be good for higher education.
Mr. Freeman said there are also things to be cautious about with both plans. With the Governor’s plan,
there would be a progressive tax increase on the rich, but there's also a sales tax, which is a regressive tax.
That might prevent the Governor’s plan from being as successful as it could have been. Also, the Governor’s plan does not guarantee funding for higher education. It can result in more money than the millionaire’s tax for colleges, but there's no way to know that because nothing has been locked in place. The
millionaire’s tax does guarantee funding for higher education, but there's something built in where the
Legislature can control the money that was geared for higher education. That was something to be very
cautious about. The Governor’s proposed tax would expire after five years and the millionaire’s tax does
not have a sunset and is permanent. That might prevent the measure from passing. There were a lot of
things to look at. The UCSA was still debating which measure to support.
Mr. Freeman said the Regents met in Riverside and decided to meet in May in Sacramento. Regent
Sherry Lansing, the Chair of the Board, was on campus and there was a meeting with her and about 20
student leaders. Her vision was to hold a huge rally at the May meeting in Sacramento. She wants a million people there. Mr. Freeman said that in his opinion, that won't happen. The meeting is in May and
this is the first time a lot of people were hearing about it. Realistically, they could get tens of thousands
Report from the External Affairs Vice President (cont'd)
- 14 -
of people there. Ms. Lansing would love to shut down the UC System for a day and is looking into how
to go about doing that legally. Mr. Freeman said he wasn't sure about her chances to do that, but those
were her plans.
Mr. Freeman said the other big conversation was whether students should buy into this rally. A lot of
students don't trust the Regents and therefore don't want to participate in a rally the Regents run. On the
other hand, a lot of students think the opposite, and think that the Regents were finally shifting the conversation to Sacramento and that students should be a part of what they're doing. Ms. Lansing has identified funds and promised the funds to get students up there. Mr. Freeman said it was his opinion that students should participate. When the Regents meeting was canceled, the ASUC mobilized in 48 hours to
get people to the Capitol, and in his opinion, the Regents were following the students’ lead. The Regents
were extending a hand for students and he thought students should accept it.
Mr. Freeman said the office was planning for a Student Lobby Conference on March 2-5 in Sacramento.
It was very expensive this year. The office was able to budget for 40 people to send. Again, Senators
should let him know if they or people they know would like to go. On March 5 the students will hold
their own rally, and he would ask Senators to please be there for that.
Mr. Freeman said the Vote Co-Director in the office resigned, so they need someone new. He would ask
Senators to please let him know if they knew people who would be amazing at the job. ASUC directors
are by and large incredible, and the person filling this position really needed to be beyond incredible.
Members of the Vote Coalition have not been thrilled with the way things have been going. The Vote
Coalition should really be an institutionalized, steady presence on campus, especially gearing up for the
2012 elections. If people knew of anybody, he would ask them to please let him know. He called for any
questions.
Mr. Goldstein said he hoped this semester they could have communication and transparency with the
Transition Planning Team, and for meeting times, plans, and agendas to be sent to the Senate. He hoped
that was communicated. He also thought it would be crucial for the Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate to
start to meet. He asked if TPT has met that semester. Mr. Freeman said it's meeting on Thursday morning from 9:00 to 11:00. They were supposed to meet before, but there were scheduling issues. They
changed the meeting time and will meet every other Thursday from 9:00 to 11:00, and possibly additional
Thursdays. They have a site visit to Southern California planned in two weeks, and the entire TPT will
go to UCLA, USC, and San Diego State. They'll ask questions of student leaders and auxiliary staff at
those schools. Each subcommittee has a deadline for when it work was expected to be done, to report to
Mr. LeGrande.
Mr. Goldstein said he would like to congratulate Mr. Freeman for the redistricting campaign and found it
incredible that it was gaining momentum. As he told the City Council, the Berkeley student district campaign has not been ASUC sponsored. When EAVP says “we,” right now that meant the Berkeley Student
District Campaign. Mr. Goldstein said he thought it was time that the Senate debates the plan and decides
on an endorsement so people could say “we” and mean the ASUC.
Mr. Freeman said he’s been very careful when he goes before the City Council, or the League of Women
Voters, or whatever group it is, to say that he was endorsing redistricting from his office, and as EAVP.
Other Executives and Senators have done the same thing, except for one mishap. He understood the perception that when ASUC figures endorse a plan, it looks like the entire ASUC was endorsing it. That’s
Report from the External Affairs Vice President (cont'd)
Report from the Student Advocate Office
- 15 -
why he respected Mr. Goldstein going to the City Council to bring that point up, rather than talking about
the plan.
Mr. Freeman said they've come to the point where all of them can be on the same page. Now that redistricting has been delayed to after November, and the City Council has agreed to put Charter reform on the
ballot, the things the office was suggesting to reform simply made sense. It's good government reform,
and he thought people could agree on that. He’ll bring the current plan to the Senate for debate. If people
were at the meeting, it was pretty incredible to think about what they accomplished. No one had been
talking about this. People tried to do something ten years ago and failed, and now a bunch of students
were able to literally change the conversation in the City of Berkeley. What the Council has agreed to do
was to historically change the way the City operates, the way redistricting works, and the way representation works. This shows how much power people have as student leaders and as ASUC officials, beyond
internal stuff, and change they could bring to the City. Seeing no questions, Mr. Alabastro said he would
like to thank him.
Report from the Student Advocate Office
Samar Shah said he would like to welcome them back. He hoped they had a great break. The SAO has a
lot happening for the upcoming semester. For the first time ever, all the Policy Coordinators and Directors put down prospectuses of what people want to do.
They're deep into hiring, since they hire every semester. They're working to get good caseworkers. If
Senators know folks who might be interested or wanted to spread the word out, he would ask them to
please do so. He’ll send out a blurb for people to forward. Info sessions will be held on Thursday and
next Monday. The application is due next week. Interviews will be held the following weekend. The
SAO held its first general meeting on Monday.
Regarding the Code of Conduct, a core group of students worked hard to make the final edits and got
them to UCOP before the Winter Break. UCOP actually got it back to them with only a couple of minor
edits. So they got the Code of Conduct passed. It will be operative very soon. They worked with
Christina Gonzales to get student outreach, and Mr. Shah said he was very excited about that. Having
worked with the Code for such a long time, it was awesome to get it out. Mr. Goldstein was instrumental
in being on the task force.
Mr. Shah said that one part of the new Code revision was to have an Independent Hearing Officer to handle all procedural aspects about the Conduct process and to outreach to students about the process, as an
independent person who was not also somebody who worked on cases, which is the COI. This was the
crucial person to get the changes going. The IHO was just hired and will come in to talk to the Senate
next week. He’s a great guy and was very excited to meet everyone. People may have seen him walking
around Eshleman, just talking to people.
Regarding police review, Mr. Shah said that people might have seen his e-mail about some things he’s
been working on through the Police Review Board. There are a lot of different police reviews going on at
Report from the Student Advocate Office (cont'd)
- 16 -
this time all related to what happened on November 9 in front of Sproul Hall. The UCOP Systemwide
police review, with a town hall next week, is one part of that. There's also the UCPD’s internal review of
the incidents that happened. There's the internal review conducted by the UCLA Assistant Police Chief.
People might have been in contact with him. That’s for the internal review that will actually inform the
Police Review Board, Berkeley’s independent Board that is tasked with overseeing the police. He’s been
working with the Chair of the Board, Prof. Jesse Choper, Law, and two student members of the Board, the
ASUC appointed member, Omar Kunbargi, and the GA-appointed member, Eve Weissman. They've
been working to figure out how to make the process a lot more student oriented and student driven. The
previous special investigation didn't have much student participation and was mostly done by the professor in charge. People want to change that.
Mr. Shah said a workshop was held last week to hear what people’s thoughts were about that and they got
a lot of feedback, which was helpful. They're taking that back to Prof. Choper. They're working to try
and get a campus-wide memo sent out about the whole process once it's finalized.
Mr. Shah said there are two aspects of the process that will be open to students completely. One is an
open forum at which everyone could speak. People are excited about speaking directly to the Police
Review Board. A meeting last semester at which people couldn't speak, and that was a problem. So they
tried to rectify that by having people actually able to speak to the Board about things that happened.
In addition, another process that was open to students, one that was trickier, was to have a formal hearing
where representatives from each of the interested parties could come together, including students,
concerned faculty, UCPD, and staff. These reps would present what they thought happened on November
9, and asked questions about their own testimony. It sounds pretty unique, and Mr. Shah said they got a
lot of negative testimony about that.
One question was how to expect people to represent all the students, which was obviously a question all
of them in the ASUC deal with as well. And it's also a question given the Occupy Movement being especially democratically oriented. Mr. Shah said they'll still push to find people, who wouldn't necessarily be
representatives, but advocates, so they don't necessarily represent all students, but were willing to advocate on their behalf. If Senators know of anybody who would be interested in this and who knew what
happened on November 9, and was willing to sit with a group of students and put together testimony, this
would be a great opportunity, and they should let him know who they are. He understood the issue about
direct democracy, but just as the ASUC does, there's a need for students to stand up and put together a
really strong argument. That’s what the UCPD will do that, as will the Administration and staff. There's
no reason students couldn't do that, even if it doesn't represent everyone. If they don't, they'll just get
pushed back.
Mr. Shah said the GA will send grad students to work on this process, and he would like to see undergrads interested in doing this as well. There will be another workshop coming up, and people should look
for an e-mail.
Mr. Shah said he’s been getting some feedback about this process from people and he’d like to hear what
Senators thought about it. As he said, he already got a lot of negative feedback. Issues die because it
takes two or three months for the Administration to get its act together and students are busy. But they
couldn't let this issue die. So he would ask people to let him know what they thought, and to please tell
him off the floor.
Report from the Student Advocate Office (cont'd)
Report from the Executive Vice President
- 17 -
Report from the Executive Vice President
Chris Alabastro said he would like to welcome them back and wanted to thank them for the warm birthday greeting. He wasn't in Berkeley last week and got back from the Philippines on Sunday. It was a
great experience. He wanted to thank the Senate for supporting that cause. Mia Hodge was here and they
had Spring Welcome Week and over 200 spring admits came by. That day they had the Professional
Fraternity Fair on Lower Sproul, and he saw quite a few people stop by. It was a good way to unite similar-minded organizations. On Thursday the office will have the Lower Sproul Festival. Ms. Hodge said
that all ASUC vendors will give out free samples and have discounted food. Subway will give out free
sandwiches, there will be a DJ from Calapalooza, and Fiesta Wings will have a deal.
Ms. Hodge said the office was also reforming intern applications and will put them online. It should
begin next year. They're also doing an ASUC case competition in April, working with Jeff Deutsch and
the Bookstore, to promote e-textbooks.
Mr. Alabastro said the Undergrad/Grad Mentorship Project and DE-Cal started. They've started to
recruit, and the first mixer will be on Monday. The other DE-Cal, for the ASUC, was also getting started,
and the CCN is 77109. It will reward Senators for their time since Senators don't get a stipend or much of
anything.
Mr. Lam said the class is full. Mr. Alabastro said they'll talk to the Department since there should be an
upper division class for Senators. People would get a unit for coming to Senate meetings. He hoped it
works out.
Ms. Yun said she just wait listed herself. Mr. Alabastro said that if people could wait list themselves,
they should do so. If a Senator got kicked out of the Senate due to absences, they'd fail the class.
Mr. Alabastro said that regarding surge, he had a conference call with Sen. Galace and DJ Pepito right
before he left for the Philippines. They tried to finalize everything. They met with the architects and
stakeholders and should have everything finalized. At the last Lower Sproul Working Group meeting that
he, Ms. Loomba, Sen. Galace attended, Abram Hardin said they'll start construction over Spring Break.
The Lower Sproul Fee Committee will meet in the next two weeks. Mr. Alabastro said he’s a Co-Chair,
along with Paula Milano. He called for any questions.
Ms. Loomba said her office started a new class, L&S110, upper division, “The World According to
Berkeley.” It's full and the wait list is full. They have some great professors for speakers, and people can
audit it. That day they heard from Robert Reich and next week they'll have Alex Filippenko. She’d send
out the syllabus. The class meets from 4:00 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays in 2060 VLSB.
Mr. Goldstein asked if the Senate wasn't going to have a spring retreat. Mr. Alabastro said he had limited
e-mail access in the Philippines. Before he left he mentioned that it would be held January 27-28, tentatively. People had mixed feelings about a retreat. He looked through the old binders of past EVPs and
saw the contents of their retreats. Last year the Senate didn't have a spring retreat. And the year before
Report from the Executive Vice President (cont'd)
Elected Officials Announcements
- 18 -
there wasn't enough funding for a complete one. So the content of the actual retreat was reflection and
things they could change moving forward. He knew scheduling will be tough, but maybe at the next
meeting the Senate could schedule a separate section at the end of a Senate meeting to do a mini-reflection, with pluses and deltas. He believed Krystal Pasco was the last office to hold a retreat that he saw.
They'd talk about their goals, reflect on their Advocacy Agenda, and things they've done, if that was okay.
He would like to include the retreat in next week’s meeting as a separate agenda item. Or, he asked if
people would like an actual retreat.
Ms. Mecklai said that if they don't do a retreat or a training, another part of a retreat was to get away from
the Senate Chamber and to see each other outside the Senate. Maybe they could go to dinner or to
Yogurtland. Being in a more informal setting was important.
Mr. Alabastro said he spoke to interns and they were really excited about planning something like this.
He’ll send out a Google for when people are free. It should come up in the next few weeks because he
wanted to do it as early as possible. It would deal with goals they want to accomplish and plusses and
deltas, reflections of the last semester, and what they'd like to see different this semester.
Mr. Alabastro said that with no objection they would recess for five minutes. Ms. Chia moved to recess
for 15 minutes. The motion was seconded and passed with no objection. This meeting was recessed.
Back in session, roll call was taken for attendance. Not present were: Mr. Abbasi, Ms. Chia, and Mr.
Gilboa.
Elected Officials Announcements
Ms. Mecklai said that Dance Marathon registration is ongoing. If Senators are part of a student organization, a Greek house, or live in a co-op, they should consider getting their group to register a team. This is
a philanthropic event and it's super fun and a good bonding experience. She asked them to please create a
team and help her promote this.
Mr. Sayarath said CalTV, CALPIRG, and Caliber are recruiting. If Senators know of anybody who could
write, they should send them there. Also, Mr. Hong is featured in Caliber Magazine. It was also free for
the first time.
Ms. Sandhu said there will be a bhangra competition that weekend and a free party. Next week is an
Indian film dance competition. Berkeley was the first school to have that.
Mr. Ickowitz said Mr. Freeman has done an amazing job on City redistricting and was changing the
dialogue occurring in the City and changing politics. Berkeley City politics and the lines that have been
drawn are probably the worst in the nation. They're trying to make them the best lines, and to have two
students on the City Council. If there are, Mr. Freeman better be one of them.
Elected Officials Announcements
- 19 -
Mr. Landgraf said that he and Ms. Shin have been working on a project with the OP, the ASUC iPhone
app. It will have a bunch of cool features. ASUC groups could post their events. There will be a gym
and library status monitor, what games were scheduled, and other features. The ASUC tab will have
funding guidelines, contact information, etc. The Android app will be coming soon, mid-February or
early March.
Ms. Shin said there will also be an application for transportation and the shuttles.
Mr. Landgraf said that if people had any input or wanted to suggest features, he'd love to hear them. The
app will be free.
Ms. Chia the Undergrad-Grad Mentorship Project (UGMP) fest is Monday. They have a nice variety of
mentors. The deadline to sign up is Friday. It's a great opportunity and a great program that she wanted
to continue in the ASUC. They're also doing focus groups with the Cal Student Store to help determine
what students are looking for in digital textbooks, which she’s working on with Mr. Abbasi. If people are
using a biochem book and want to try a digital textbook, she would ask them to contact her.
Mr. Goldstein said the “Deconstructing Operational Excellence” DE-Cal met on Tuesday, its first class.
There was a good turnout. It's being facilitated by himself, the OE Student Communication Coordinator,
Matt Goren, and Mary Chang, of the AAVP’s office. Mr. Goldstein said he would encourage Senators to
enroll if they want to find out what’s been going on with OE. If they're on SOEC they should come on
alternating weeks because those are the SOEC meetings. Interns are welcome to attend and enroll.
Mr. Goldstein said the Take Back the Tap initiative is moving along. The ASUC Bookstore has pulled
bottled water off the shelves. Mr. Goldstein said That Back the Tap will roll out a big educational campaign in the Store directing students to drinking fountains and letting them know the benefits of tap water,
healthwise and in terms of sustainability. Mr. Goldstein said he wanted to thank Jeff Deutsch, who has
been a real partner to students and has really listened to the student voice throughout this. The Academic
Senate is moving this initiative along now. So the RHA, the ASUC, and the Academic Senate will hopefully all support this, and hopefully it will all come together.
Mr. Goldstein said he submitted a bill in support of two-year Senate terms, with ten-seat rotational cycles.
The idea is that every year ten seats would go up and Senators would serve two-year terms. He was very
interested in getting Senators’ feedback. He would ask them to please contact him about this. He would
love to meet with Senators, their coalitions, and their parties. This structural change needed to be
debated.
Mr. Goldstein said another structural, institutional change that he and Sen. Albright sponsored was the
banking bill, to transfer ASUC funds out of the Bank of America.
Mr. Goldstein said he just wanted to say that he really appreciated last semester in the Senate. It has been
very co-operative. And from his previous year, it was such a stark difference. He hoped that semester
that as they move into ASUC elections, that they can continue to maintain the respect that they have
shown. He hoped that Senators can continue to rise above the little partisan politics that they constantly
have.
Elected Officials Announcements (cont'd)
New Business
- 20 -
Mr. Galace said he was asked to let the Senate know about, and invite them to, the 12th Annual Cal
Leadership Symposium. This event always brings out about 500 students. They’ll go through a series of
workshops and hear from Roger Crawford, one of the most differently-abled experts in the world. Mr.
Galace said he understood it will be a great event.
Mr. Hong said that last night a friend asked him to spread a message. His close friend had a relapse with
leukemia and is in desperate of a bone marrow transplant. If she doesn't get it in two months, she may not
survive. In August, 2009, Janet Liang was diagnosed with leukemia while finishing her bachelor’s degree
at UCLA. She underwent treatment, but recently relapsed. She only has two months to find a suitable
bone marrow match. He would ask Senators to please spread the word and to register at the bone marrow
registry. Janet is 22, has a full life ahead of her, and needs help. [A video was shown.] Mr. Hong said
that if people had suggestions to publicize this, he would ask them to please let him know.
Mr. Hong said he’s part of a standing committee on undocumented members of the campus community.
A task force for AB 540 students was formed two or three semesters ago, on how to help these students at
Berkeley. A recommendation was to create a new staff member to help out AB 540 students, and that day
they hired a new faculty staff for that. He’s also helping low-income communities.
Regarding the AB 130 Scholarship, Mr. Hong said there are about 150 applicants. About 105 students
receive an AB 130 Scholarship. The majority of them got $8,000, including him. It was the first time he
ever got financial aid. For those who didn't get the scholarship, with the 3.0 GPA requirements, Mr.
Hong said they tried to figure out a way to appeal the process so they could receive full funds and continue to go to college.
Mr. Galace asked if they could take a 30-second moment of silence to remember the Haas student who
passed away that weekend. A moment of silence was observed in honor of Vladimir Debabov. Mr.
Galace said he would like to thank them.
Mr. Albright said the Chancellor's Advisory Committees on LGBT issues gives report every year to the
Chancellor on climate issues, staffing, and student space. They'll present the report on Monday. Also,
UC Berkeley will be the first, or one of the first campuses in the nation, with an official policy regarding
transgendered athletes.
Ms. Sandhu said the Senate heard a presentation earlier that year about Amit Gupta, who needed a bone
marrow transplant. He found a match. Ms. Sandhu said that people publicized that at their cultural
events, and in the next two competitions, they could have swabs for people.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Alabastro said the Chair would entertain a motion to send the following bills to committee:
SB 01, In Support of Law in Practice at Berkeley, to the Finance Committee
New Business (cont'd)
Standing Committee Reports
- 21 -
SB 02, To Specify Programmatic Space Allocations for Lower Sproul Redevelopment, to the University
and External Affairs Committee
SB 03, In Support of Delta Sigma Pi, to the Finance Committee
SB 04, In Support of the College Ski and Snowboard Club (CSSC) , to the Finance Committee
SB 05, In Support of Danza In Xochitl In Cuicatl, to the Finance Committee
SB 06, To Reinstate USEU, to the Finance Committee
SB 07, In Support of Constitutional Amendments for Establishing Two-Year Senate Terms with Rotational Cycles, to the Constitutional and Procedural Review Committee
SB 08, In Support of the 2012 Cal Leadership Symposium, to the Finance Committee
SB 09, In Support of Socially Responsible and Local Investment of ASUC and UC Berkeley Finances, to
the University and External Affairs Committee, to the Constitutional and Procedural Review
Committee
SB 10, In Support of Affirm Middle Eastern Journal, to the Finance Committee
SB 11, In Support of Cal Do Something, to the Finance Committee
SB 12, In Support of the Haas Business School Association, to the Finance Committee
SB 13 Support of the Longboard Connection at Berkeley, to the Finance Committee
SB 14, In Support of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, to the Finance Committee
SB 15, In Support of Ashley Wardle, to the University and External Affairs Committee
SB 16 In Consideration of the Governor's 2012-2013 Higher Education Budget Proposal, to the University and External Affairs Committee
SB 17 In Recognition of Black History Month, to the University and External Affairs Committee
SB 18, In Support of KPOPCON12, to the Finance Committee
Mr. Alabastro said he wanted to congratulate Con-Review for having bills.
A motion to approve New Business was made and seconded and passed with no objection.
Standing Committee Reports
Reporting for the Finance Committee, Ms. Shirinian said they passed two bills, SBs 200 and 201, both as
amended. They also reviewed stipends, with additional review to be done on them.
--------------Begin written report from the Finance Committee
--------------Begin Fi-Comm summary
Passed:
Standing Committee Reports (cont'd)
- 22 -
--------------Begin written report from the fico
--------------Fi-Comm Summary (cont'd)
SB 200a (359.5 contingency, 567 GOF)
SB 201a ($500 Senate Only)
End Fi-Comm summary
----------------------------Begin Fi-Comm minutes
Spring 2012 Session
Monday, January 23, 2012, 9:00 pm, Senate Chambers
I.
Roll Call
a. Albright
b. Abassi
c. Chia
d. Diaz
e. Shin
f. Lam
g. Shirinian
II.
Approval of Minutes from Last Meeting
III.
Approval of Agenda
IV.
Waivers
a. Pauley
i. Nadeeka Karunaratne: Dance Marathon. Full waiver $625. Over six years, they
have raised $110,000 for pediatric aids; they hope to raise $75,000 this year.
1. PASSED
ii. Mia Criner: ASME crab feed. Half of West Pauley, $210.
1. There was some confusion, they applied to a half waiver on accident, meaning to apply for the full waiver.
a. PASSED FOR FULL WAIVER
iii. Natalie Kwong. Ballroom Dance, half of full pauley, $310.
1. PASSED
iv. Xina Sun: Leadership Symposium. Full Use of Pauley, $625. They are no longer
funded by Target, for political differences.
1. PASSED
v. Tianyi Zhang: Vagina Monologues. Half use pauley $310.
1. PASSED
Standing Committee Reports (cont'd)
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--------------Written report from the Finance Committee (cont'd)
V.
VI.
New Business
a. SB 200a – A Bill in Support of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. ($359.50 Contingency,
$567.00 GOF)
i. Omonivie Agboghidi: Historically Black Sorority, they just had their 90th sorority.
They raise money and give scholarships to students. The goal (of the scholarship
competition) is to showcase some of the African American male students here in a
different light. The scholarship competition is dedicated to the sorority advisor
they recently lost to cancer.
ii. Deshar Young: There is a swimsuit aspect to the competition; it was very fun. The
scholarship aspect is really helpful in terms of paying for tuition. I didn’t win the
competition, but I still had fun. If I had the opportunity I’d do it again.
iii. Sayarath: I’ve attached the budget, I am wondering how we printed programs in the
past. Could you help me figure out the requesting price for that, as well as venues.
iv. Abassi: Do people feel as though this is double dipping into funds, both GOF and
Contingency?
1. Chia: I believe this is a status that most student groups do not have access
to. For the majority of Greeks, you can only apply from GOF. In the
future, this is something that could be exploited by student groups.
v. Lam: What alternate sources of funding have you looked into?
1. Student Opportunity Fund ($1500), alumni chapters in the area ($300, still
collecting).
vi. Shin: Why is part coming from GOF and some coming from contingency?
1. Sayarath: I thought it would be easier on the contingency fund, and there is
a cap on GOF.
2. Discussion regarding precedent being set here.
vii. Lam: Speaking to the bill itself, I’m curious as to why it was necessary to rent a
projector as opposed to renting for free from the ASUC.
viii. AMEND TO REMOVE FUNDING FOR PROJECTOR
ix. PASSED AS AMENDED
b. SB 201a – A Bill Commemorating Oakland Police Sgt. Daniel Sakai and In Support of the
Daniel Sakai CSO of the Year Scholarship ($500)
i. AMEND TO ALLOCATE THESE FUNDS TO OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
ii. AMEND TO ALLOCATE FROM SENATE ONLY, NOT SENATE
CONTINGENCY
iii. PASSED
Review of Stipends
a. OP, Chief
i. Passed
b. EVP, Chief
i. Passed
c. SAO, Chief
i. Passed
d. AAVP, Chief
i. AAVP: Passed
ii. Chief: Pending, per separate meeting
e. EAVP, Chief
Standing Committee Reports (cont'd)
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--------------Written report from the Finance Committee (cont'd)
i. Passed
f. Finance Officer
i. Passed
g. Elections Officer
i. Passed at the normal value, but we would like to speak with him about his request
for increased stipend
h. MCD
i. Pending, per separate meeting
i. Webmaster
i. Passed
DECISION:
VII.
Elected Official Announcements
End Fi-Comm minutes
End written report from the Finance Committee
--------------Reporting for the Constitutional and Procedural Review Committee, Mr. Ickowitz said that because of the
break, and because it's difficult to find graduate students willing to participate in the ASUC, he moved to
suspend the By-laws and extend the deadline by two weeks for Ms. Loomba to present nominees for the
Judicial Council, for Con-Review to interview. The motion was seconded by Mr. Sayarath. THE
MOTION TO SUSPEND THE BY-LAWS TO EXTEND BY TWO WEEKS THE TIME THE PRESIDENT HAD TO FORWARD J-COUNCIL NOMINEES TO CON-REVIEW PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY HAND-VOTE.
Reporting for the University and External Affairs Committee, Ms. Mecklai said they passed SB 201, as
amended.
--------------Begin written report from the University and External Affairs Committee
Spring 2012 Session – January 23
9:00pm
I. Attendance:
 Senator Gilboa
 Senator Yun
 Senator Fang
Standing Committee Reports (cont'd)
Consent Calendar
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--------------Written report from the University and External Affairs Committee (cont'd)


Senator Hong
Senator Mecklai
Meeting called to order: 9:19PM
II.
Approval of the Minutes from Last Meeting
a. Motion by Senator Gilboa, Seconded by Senator Fang
III.
Approval of the Agenda for the Meeting
a. Motion by Senator Gilboa, Seconded by Senator Mecklai
IV.
Guest Announcements
None.
V.
Chair Announcements
None.
VI.
Elected Official Announcements
None.
VII.
New Business
SB 201: A Bill Commemorating Oakland Police Sgt. Daniel Sakai and in Support of the Daniel
Sakai CSO of the Year Scholarship
Passed unanimously 5-0-0
VIII. Old Business
IX.
Adjourn at 9:30 PM
End written report from the University and External Affairs Committee
---------------
CONSENT CALENDAR
The following bills were up for consideration that evening under the Consent Calendar: SBs 200, as
amended; and SB 201, as amended.
No bills were removed from the Consent Calendar.
Mr. Alabastro said the Chair would entertain a motion to approve the Consent Calendar. It was so moved
and seconded. THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR UNANIMOUSLY BY
VOICE-VOTE: WAIVERS; SB 200, AS AMENDED; AND SB 201, AS AMENDED.
Consent Calendar -- Waivers
-- SB 200, In Support of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (cont'd)
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The following waivers were approved under the Consent Calendar:
Pauley Waivers
i. Nadeeka Karunaratne: Dance Marathon. Full waiver $625.
ii. Mia Criner: ASME crab feed. Half of West Pauley, $210, full waiver.
iii. Natalie Kwong. Ballroom Dance, half of full pauley, $310.
iv. Xina Sun: Leadership Symposium. Full Use of Pauley, $625. PASSED
v. Tianyi Zhang: Vagina Monologues. Half use pauley $310.
The following Resolution, SB 200, as amended, in committee, was approved under the Consent Calendar
and was authored by Omonivie Agboghidi and Mr. Sayarath and was co-sponsored by Mr. Abbasi, Ms.
Mecklai, Mr. Landgraf, and Mr. Williams:
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC.
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Kappa Chapter is an officially recognized Chapter of the
National Pan-Hellenic Council at the University of California, Berkeley; and
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is in good standing with the National Pan-Hellenic Council
(NPHC); and
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a public service organization dedicated to the principles
of sisterhood, scholarship, and service; and
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on Howard University on January 13, 1913
and chartered on the UC Berkeley campus on February 21, 1921; and
WHEREAS, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Kappa Chapter was the first Black Greek Letter Organization at UC Berkeley and the first Black sorority chartered west of the Rocky Mountains;
and
WHEREAS, for more than 90 years, the Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. has served
the campus, Bay Area, and the State of California; and
WHEREAS, the Chapter is holding a scholarship competition called the “2012 Delta Beau Scholarship
Competition” on January 26, 2012 that is the culminating event for the Chapter and will
enrich the NPHC community; and
WHEREAS, the Delta Beau Scholarship Competition is a competition for Cal’s most distinguished African-American men to showcase their personal and scholastic achievements in an effort to
break social stereotypes that would often times overshadow these achievements; and
Consent Calendar -- SB 200, In Support of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (cont'd)
-- SB 201, Commemorating Oakland Police Sgt. Daniel Sakai and In Support
of the Daniel Sakai CSO of the Year Scholarship
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RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC. (cont'd)
WHEREAS, in previous years the competition has attracted a diverse group of students, faculty, and
community members who are invested in the development of undergraduate men; and
WHEREAS, this event is originally inspired by one of Delta Sigma Theta’s founders, Naomi Sewell
Richardson, and the Chapter hopes to bring this event to Cal to inspire and motivate the
NPHC community; and
WHEREAS, this year the theme of the competition is “Reclaiming the Throne,” which urges participants
to think about ways they can create a more inclusive future by paying reverences to the
scores of accomplished Black men that have made major contributions to this country; and
WHEREAS, the budget for the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Delta Beau Scholarship Competition is
as follows: Requested from Senate: $359.50, Senate Contingency; $567.00, Greek Opportunity Fund; and $2,107.00, spring budgeting; total, $3,083.50;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUC recognizes the Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc. as a first year Student-Initiated Service Group (SISG); and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the ASUC allocate $567.00 from the Greek Opportunity Fund and
$409.50 from the Senate Contingency Fund (Total Allocation of $976.50) to Delta Sigma
Theta Sorority, Inc. to fund the Delta Beau Scholarship Competition. [Funding removed
for projector.]
The following Resolution, SB 201, as amended in committee, was approved under the Consent Calendar
and was authored by Mr. Abbasi, Mr. Lam, and Ms. Mecklai:
RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING OAKLAND POLICE SGT. DANIEL SAKAI AND IN SUPPORT OF THE DANIEL SAKAI CSO OF THE YEAR SCHOLARSHIP
WHEREAS, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Sgt. Ervin Romans, Sgt. Daniel Sakai, and Officer John Hege died in
action after a routine traffic stop on March 21, 2009 escalated into the shooting deaths of
two traffic officers and further officer-involved loss of life that tragically occurred as a subsequent SWAT team action was required to protect the lives of the residents of a multi-unit
apartment building; and
WHEREAS, Sgt. Daniel Sakai, an Oakland City SWAT team member was 35 years old, was the husband
of Officer Jennifer Sakai, who is a member of the UCPD, was the father of a young daughter, was an alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, and while at Cal, was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity; and
Consent Calendar -- SB 201, Commemorating Oakland Police Sgt. Daniel Sakai and In Support
of the Daniel Sakai CSO of the Year Scholarship (cont'd)
Special Committee Reports
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RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING OAKLAND POLICE SGT. DANIEL SAKAI AND IN SUPPORT OF THE DANIEL SAKAI CSO OF THE YEAR SCHOLARSHIP (cont'd)
WHEREAS, The Daniel Sakai CSO of the Year Award was created to be awarded to the Community
Service Officer (CSO) that best exemplifies the traits that Sgt. Daniel Sakai exhibited; and
WHEREAS, the award has a budget of $500 to be awarded to the CSO that exemplifies these traits; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the ASUC shall officially commemorate the passing of Sgt. Mark
Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt. Ervin Romans, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, by having a
moment of silence in the ASUC Senate Chamber upon the passage of this bill.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the authors/sponsors of this bill and the ASUC President shall draft
a letter of condolence, appreciation, and gratitude to the families of these officers and to the
Oakland Police Department.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the authors/sponsors of this bill and the ASUC External Affairs VP
shall draft a letter of special condolence such that the ASUC shall offer its support, gratitude,
and heartfelt sympathy to Sgt. Daniel Sakai's wife, Jennifer, who is a member of the UCPD,
to honor the contributions of Daniel and Jennifer Sakai given to the UC Berkeley campus
and community.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the ASUC allocate $500 from the Senate-Only Fund to the ASUC
office of the President to provide funds for Daniel Sakai CSO of the Year Award to be distributed by UCPD CSO program.
Special Committee Reports
Ms. Diaz said the Ethnic Studies Fifth Account met that day. Student groups can turn in applications.
"Happy Birthday" was sung again to Mr. Alabastro!
Continuing Special Committee Reports, Mr. Goldstein said that with the Student Operational Excellence
Committee, a lot of things were happening with OE. A lot of the initiatives are coming online. A big
Initiative that he, Matt Goren, from the GA, and Ms. Navab, are watching out for is the Shared Services
Initiative. The idea is to combine human resource staffing and staffing from across the whole campus. It
will have widespread impacts for all departments and all colleges. Mr. Goldstein said he’d keep the
Senate posted. If people can't make SOEC meetings, but want to get involved, people should send him an
e-mail. People can also send interns to SOEC meetings.
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Mr. Alabastro said the Chair would entertain a motion to adjourn . It was so moved and seconded and
passed with no objection.
Roll call was taken for attendance.
Andrew Albright
Tiffany Chia
Brisa Diaz
Sydney Hai Fang
Anthony Galace
Elliot Goldstein
Andrew Albright
Ju Young Hong
Noah Ickowitz
Sheldon Lam
Connor Landgraf
Safeena Mecklai
Sharanjit Sandhu
Ju Young Hong
This meeting adjourned at 10:37 p.m.
These minutes respectfully submitted by,
Steven I. Litwak, Recording Secretary
Justin Sayarath
Annie Shin
Nairi Shirinian
Daniel Ternan
Kevin Williams
Christine Yun
Justin Sayarath