2015-2016 ASUCM Senate
ASUCM Regular Senate Meeting Agenda
5200 N. Lake Road KL169, Merced, CA 95343 – P: (209) 228-7468
E: asucm@ucmerced.edu W: http://asucm.ucmerced.edu
FALL 2015 Session
Wednesday, October 28th, 2015 7:30 pm
Chancellor’s Conference Room (KL 232)
I.
Call to Order
Called to order at 7:30 pm
II.
Roll Call
a. Senators Acosta, Barba, Castillo, Drobenaire, Gonzalez, Guaderrama, Hulbert, Maldonado,
Martinez, Manon, Menon, Nunez, Trejo, Wachira, Wallace, Yang
b. President Domonique Jones
c. ASUCM Intern Adriana Gomez
d. Advisor Steve Lerer
e. IVP Huber Munoz
III.
Approval of Agenda
Motion to approve by Sen. Trejo
Seconded by Sen. Hulbert
Unanimously approved.
IV.
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve by Sen. Memon
Seconded by Sen. Wallace
Unanimously approved
V.
Guest Speaker
a. Dr. Elizabeth Whitt, Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education
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Thank you. I’m not going to give a speech, but I would like to tell you about my office and
what I do and some things that are going on with undergrad education, and see what
questions you might have. It would be helpful for me to know who’s here. Who you are –
where you are from, what’s your major- whatever you think would be useful. I can read
your names, but it would be helpful for me to know whom you are representing. Where do
you want to start?
Sen. Barba: Hello my name is Celilya Barba. I am a human bio major and a natural
science major.
Sen. Castillo: Hello I am Louis Castillo- from Pomona. I am a political science major.
Sen. Manon: Marco Manon from Orange County- Senator at large. I’m in Kappa Sigma
Sen. Memon: I’m Salma from Orange County and a human bio major. I’m a senator at
Large and involved in Phi Delta Epsilon.
Sen. Trejo: Mauricio Trejo from Orange County- involved as an AVID tutor and the in
the Blum Center.
Sen. Yang: Hello my name is Johnny Yang. I’m from Fresno. I’m part of ACS.
Sen. Acosta: Hello, my name is Michelle Acosta- I am a third year poli-sci major from
Palmdale. I’m from KKG, and a pledge for AKP. I’m the president for Merced Youth Court.
Sen. Nunez: Manni Nunez- I’m a bio major- I’m from the central valley.
Advisor Lerer: Hi I’m Steve- I’m a fourth year advisor. I’m from New Jersey. I’m not
involved with any clubs. I’m also a first year PhD student.
Pres. Jones: Hello My name is Domonique Jones. I’m graduating in six months but
who’s counting?
Sen. Maldonado: My name is Stephanie Maldonado. I’m a fourth year poli sci major.
I’m from the central valley. I’m involved with P.A.D. I’m also involved with the society of
automotive engineers.
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Sen. Martinez: I’m Edmundo Martinez.
Sen. Gutierrez: My name is Carlos and I am a senator at large, a first year from LA.
Sen. Drobenaire: My name is Hunter Drobenaire. I’m a senator for the school of
engineering.
Sen. Guaderrama: I’m Carlos Guaderrama- I’m from Garden Grove, CA. I’m a second
year poli sci major.
Sen. Wallace: My name is Mike- I’m from San Diego.
Sen. Wachira: Hi my name is Teresa, I’m from Elk Grove.
Sen. Hulbert: Hi, my name is Gabriel. I’m a second year poli sci major.
IVP Munoz: My name is Huber and I am a third year poli sci major.
Dr. Whitt: Why are you involved with ASUCM?
Sen. Trejo: For me- it being an advocate for students. If you get to sit at the table, then
it’s really important that we share that and support students.
Sen. Acosta: I wanted to be more involved with the growth of the university.
Dr. Whitt: So contributing to the campus.
Sen. Barba: Getting to work with a group of students who are advocates for UC Merced.
Sen. Hulbert: Adding on to this talk of advocacy, we get to make choices that, when we
look back on UCM we can actually make a difference and say “we did that”.
Sen. Martinez: I wanted to see what this is all about, and actually make a difference- but
I want to hear more about your work.
Dr. Whitt: Is that a way of saying that you no longer want me to ask questions? Okay- I
am vice provost at UC Merced- my hometown is Stockton- I spent most of my adult life in
Stockton, then moved to Merced. I’m a fourth generation San Joaquin Valley native- I
wanted to come back here and work close to where I started- an opportunity to be involved
in a new institution that addresses the needs of the central valley in regards to the needs of
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students, as well as directing research. I was captivated by the mission. I’ve been a faculty
member at other universities for graduate programs. The research I do and have done for 25
years is about college students- about how universities help them be successful. It’s a very
good opportunity- lots of students don’t get the opportunity to use what they know. The
office I work for is the office of undergraduate education. I’m the first full time vice provost
and dean. The purpose is to focus on undergrad success- both in and out of the classroom.
Not just about academic student success. The units within undergrad education- the Merritt
Writing program and the center for teaching a learning- then there’s just a lot of tasks I’m
involved in because of my role. Lots of university committees. Some initiatives that I am
interested in speaking about- as well as some new initiatives. My office is more about
general education- Core, Writing 1 and 10. One of the things that’s going on this year.
General education underwent program review last year. We had a team of folks from other
universities came and looked at general ed here and talked with faculty and staff as well as
students. They made a lot of recommendations- one of which is “you don’t have a GE
program- you have a lot of courses, and it’s hard for students to understand what GE is.
There are some any more things that GE can do.” The things that employers say they want
in graduates- critical thinking, collaboration and teamwork. We are in the process of
responding to that review and taking into account what general education looks like at UC
Merced. That is something we are moving into. We will have a website and a lot of
opportunities to provide feedback about what general education should be and what should
it include. It’s not particularly helpful if it’s something that you cannot understand or get
through. We are working on that. Everything is up for discussion. During this coming yearwe’ve had ten years of the current GE curriculum- but what do we need for the next GE
curriculum. That’s something that we are interested in and that I can keep you apprised of. It
will have a huge impact on the student experience at UC Merced. We are also discussing
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updating our academic integrity policy to make it clearer, make it more useful and clear to
students about what is expected. We are still working on that. Something that has gone
forward on that- Hunter was speaking about this at UGE last year- should we have a
university honors program at UC Merced. There was a committee made to address this
question- It was half faculty, half students. Jane Lawrence and I were the co-chairs and
recommended there should be an honors program for students. That is making its way
through various areas of campus. If you want to have a discussion about that proposal- I
think Hunter would be a good connection for you. I’d be happy to come back and talk about
it if that gets approved. We’d be implementing it with the class of Fall 2017. There are fall
resource applications as well. We asked students- and it’s something that I hear out and
about. That would be something- we are the only campus that doesn’t have one. If you want
more information, let Hunter or me know about it. That’s the group that will be making
some decisions about it this fall. We are also looking at creating a writing center on campus
that would provide writing resources and walk in help, as well as appointment help for
students. There will be conversations about that. Another process is the beginnings of
thinking about looking at undergraduate advising. Now ten years in- what is working wellMotion to approve- Sen. Memon by 15 min
Seconded by Sen Hulbert
Unanimously approved.
There will be opportunities to weigh in on academic advising- I expect that we will be
bringing people to talk about this- either groups or individuals. We are taking a look at that.
One last thing- now all of the undergraduate majors have an undergrad chair- a faculty
member who is involved with undergraduate aspects of that major. We are in the middle of
making some final appointments. This is a brand new position- there was a strong sense that
it would be really effective to have a faculty member who would be able to deal with
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undergrad concerns and speaking for undergrad education. Someone who is representing
undergrad students. That information will be available on our website. That’s something else
you might want to know about. So- that’s what I wanted to tell you about.
Sen. Wachira: Do you have a role in academic senate?
Dr. Whitt: There are two answers- one is no and one is yes, kind of. I’m a professor in
sociology. That means that I am- but I am also a fulltime administrator. So that means yes I
am but I don’t have a role- I can vote on things and be involved with tenure and promotion.
Sen. Hulbert: You were saying that you are overseeing the GE curriculum. What are
some of the changes you see to that?
Dr. Whitt: I don’t know- I foresee that when all of this is said and done, there will be an
actual program, not just a set of courses. The way we do it now- we take courses. We are
intended to be more integrated and intentional- starting with the 1st year and building
through the fourth year, and carrying those ideas through to research.
The recommendations we got from our external review- good practices for our
experience. There ought to be good experiences that make use of GE learning.
Sen. Memon: There are a couple of courses that are mandatory for graduate programs.
Has there been any discussion about bringing those courses to the campus? For example,
anatomy or public speaking?
Dr. Whitt: Classes like anatomy and physiology are teaching intensive and would require
a lab. I’ve been in a meeting with the provost when he was talking about it. It doesn’t seem
that public speaking would be as resource intensive as an anatomy lab.
Sen. Acosta: I’m not sure if this falls under your umbrella- if an undergrad student had a
complaint about the professor, how do they complain about that? Is there somewhere they
can go, or go to someone else?
Dr. Whitt: I don’t here those kinds of complaints- they don’t get to me. They go within
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the schools or the major programs. I can see that students might not. Another resource is the
Ombuds office. We don’t have academic departments, but we hope the undergrad
representative will take that role on. My office will be a resource for that. Core 1, however, I
would hear complaints about. I haven’t but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t.
Sen. Memon: Could you please elaborate on the honors program. I know a few courses
are offered.
Dr. Whitt: Yes- there are a few. History has one. This would be at the institutional level
regardless of major or school. It would provide opportunities for students. At other
institutions, there are learning communities and residential learning communities- honors
thesis options, honors capstone. Community service and engagement. The whole idea would
be to have an enriched experience. A university honors program would take it up a notch. It
might require undergraduate research. There would be more rigorous academic
requirements. If you wanted to know- there’s a proposal out there. The faculty and student
advisory group would help provide governance for that. There are three options for that- one
is being admitted to it as a first-year student. Another is being admitted as a continuing
student during the first year for the sophomore year. And then a transfer route. Some honors
programs, if you don’t get in when you are a first year student, that’s it. But we want to
build in some more options.
Senator Acosta: Motion to yield floor to Bianca.
OD Bianca Negrete: How do we find out who the chair for our major is- we will have
information up on the website. We have one more position to fill but that is generally public
information. My email is ewhitt@ucmerced.edu. My office is in SSB 310. You can come
there too. I would tell you right now but I can’t remember everyone’s name.
Pres. Jones (yielded by Acosta): Has there been talks about incorporating some kind of
diversity requirement?
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Dr. Whitt: We are the only campus that doesn’t have a diversity requirement. I’m sure
that will be part of the discussion. What does that mean for general education- because that
can look like a lot of different things. What is the most meaningful requirement for here? I
think that’s an important conversation. What do students need?
VI.
Chair's Report- Huber Munoz
Good evening everyone- It’s nice to see a good crowd out here. Just a reminder- I’ll do a recap. Thank you
everyone who came out to the in-service. I can’t say I was proud of the numbers that turned out, but I was proud of
the conversations. I know a lot of you got together with members of other branches to work together. The ones that
attended found three topics they were interested in. We set goals and strategies of how we were going to
accomplish those things. Stick with those collaborations. Find out how you can help. The next in-service is on Nov.
21. Just a quick heads up- it’ll be our last in-service on the semester, and will be more focused on teambuilding. We
will do it on the next in-service and we will do it as a potluck. Make sure you are there. I gave you the dates in
advance- try not to schedule anything for that weekend. You’ve known these dates for a while. One thing to keep in
mind when we have guest speakers- Please be mindful and respectful and pay attention to what they are saying. Put
your laptop down for a little bit. If I tell you- please do it and be respectful. They are here to talk to you, and you
are here to listen to them. I encourage you to bring your laptops, but when we have speakers be respectful. Another
thing- this week I have had one-on-ones with some of the newer senators. I’ve had some great roles to play
alongside you. You are at no time during this meeting- you should not feel pressure to carry on a motion. No one
should ever pressure you to move forward with emotion. That is not our role- our role is to involve you with
different roles.
Section 7 of the bylaws- honorary members. Honorary members can only speak freely at a meeting if
yielded the floor by a senator. That is an option all of you have. You should never feel obligated to do anythingthat is up to you all. Those are never supposed to influence you. Senate may at any time reverse this previous
decision. We are only here to give you advice if you seek it. Other than that, I have nothing else to report. Let’s just
have a great meeting, As always, I try to keep you guys and give you space to do your jobs. I have confidence in
you guys that you are doing your hob. I’m putting my trust in you. I’m always a resource for you. Keep up the
great work.
VII.
Elected & Appointed Officers Report
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Director of Student Affairs Andre Frise: Hello everyone- I have some updates with what Dean
Whitt says. We make sure that everyone is making reports and surveying how academic success
if going on campus. If any of you have experiences, we can put that in the polls and host a
senate chat. I also have FUR- fellowship opportunities for undergraduate students. We are
working on making this more inclusive for transfer students. We will be publishing it in midFebruary. We also have a new Librarian- he is planning on increasing the funding for the library.
The library hasn’t grown in four years- we are also talking about the library printing system.
After the meeting, he came up to me and said that he would buy a new printer.
Sen. Memon: Has there been discussion about improving the wi-fi system?
Dir. of SA Frise: It’s just been improved, actually. They think they improved it
so…awkward.
Dir. of Advocacy: Hi everyone- my name is Kaitlyn Fitzgerald. Today I had the CARE
advisory board meeting. They screened Hunting Ground. I encouraged you all to go and no one
showed up. Last year they were filling out a grant proposal to receive money for the care
program- but they didn’t receive it. They aren’t changing any of their programs. They reached
97% of incoming students. They say its more around 98%. They were concerned with the other
2%- if the student lives on campus they have the RA come out and talk to them and personally
call their cell phone. They are checking in on students. Also- with the CARE program- the
peace for families march is at 437 West 18th street- it’s tomorrow. It’s all for domestic violence
awareness month. I encourage all of you to go and check that out. Tomorrow at 4pm they are
having a sexual violence taskforce and talking about the adjudication processes. I also have my
staff here- they are here to introduce themselves
I also sat on a phone call. We are also talking about the disability students that are hurt
and injured, to cart them to class. Thanks!
OD Negrete: Hi everyone. I wanted to give a quick update about CAPS services- they
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see about 27 clients a week per psychologist. We don’t have enough psychologist. We have
about 6700 students for 4 psychologists. Something interesting I learned was that UCSA’s
“How are U” campaign- people are not applying to diversify the campus. We get a lot of job
competition from prisons. We are surrounded by a few prisons. Uses of CAPS have gone up
tremendously- students are coming in a lot more often. Mental health is on a huge rise. CAPS
can really attest to that. They had 13 intakes last year in September. This year- we had 71 in
Sept 2015. Crises last year- there were 27. This year, there were 37. They run solely off student
fees. UCSA is working on that and talking to the Steinberg institute. Hopefully they seem pretty
down. If you need any information about that, they are moving location in the 2020 plan. It’s
not wheelchair accessible. They need a bigger space.
The million student march is moving very quickly- I wanted to invite you all to our XO
meetings. Tomorrow we will be going into it a lot more. We will be doing clubs and org reps.
ASU and SALE and the Dems- we are going to be assigning a lot more clubs. Let us know the
times and we can also come out to your clubs. A lot of the clubs I have spoken to are really
really excited for this. The million-student march is doing this on November 12. If we get 100we ill be the biggest student movement in US history. It’s moving quickly- if you do not agree
with any of the demands of the student movement. I go through who denies the messages and
try to change their minds. Most people have concerns about the $15 minimum wage. The
problem with that is really specific to the UCs. UCOP is implementing that $15 to students. The
reason for that is because they don’t allow us to work more than $18. If you hit over 18 you get
fired or don’t get paid. In the DC- if you hit over 18, you don’t get paid for any hours over 18.
It’s payroll and UCOP and its coming right down to students. The Blum center is very interested
in this to talk about strategic investment. I am in contact with Daniel Sabzahar to mobilize more
students. This is going to require a lot of student input. Also, student debt hit $1.3 trillion. If you
are not on that page, please join it. I’d love to have conversations about this. That’s about it.
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Thursdays- 8 pm, that’s when we talk about it.
Sen. Nunez: Thank you Bianca- I was going to ask you. In the summer I met with CAPs
and they were talking about hiring a new psychologist.
OD Negrete: They hired one and are in the process of hiring more. This new staff
member 50% dedicated to students and 50% to staff. There was a confirmed person to start. I
will be meeting with Tanya next week. There has been somebody from what I know. Our CAPS
is great with our hiring process. They always invite students to take part in the interview
process. I have also been invited to attend CAPS general staff meetings.
Sen. Hulbert: On CAPs, you were talking crises versus intakeOD Negrete: A crisis is suicidal. They have to be checked in to a hospital. Intake is
someone who needs to talk to someone right away. So there’s divide there.
EVP Coba: Hey there everyone! Couple quick things- I first want to talk about SAC. I
just got an email from UCSA- the applications were reviewed. We had almost 200 people apply
and we could only take 81 of them. There was a mandatory info session. Students didn’t feel
like they were well informed in this process. This seems to be a recurring trend about what this
conference is and what they should expect. Maybe dropping “guys or he” in the conversation is
something that gets brought up a lot. That is something we are trying to do. I also wanted to get
some advice about when we were reviewing for waitlists and confirmed lists. Unfortunately, a
lot of that information got deleted. I know you have to ask things in forms of a question during
the meeting.
Sen. Wachira: What’s the problem? I do not understand. The list that we went throughwhich do you have. I have the yes, maybe and no list. We had a similar problem at the rec
center. Something goes wrong with the network connectivity. I have roughly 30-50 people on
the list of no’s. I should have upwards of 100. I just wanted to notify all the people who didn’t
get accepted.
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Sen. Memon: Wouldn’t it be reasonable to go thorugh anyone who applied.
EVP Coba: In those received people, we don’t have a copy of it.
Sen. Maldonado: Why don’t you send a massive email to everyone? If you got the email,
you are going, if not, you aren’t.
EVP Coba: Ok. Also, we got a grant form the parks and rec service to build bike lanes
on campus. I’m trying to get a work group going. We don’t have any plans of where access for
the group is gong. Really, the parks and rec service is going to go through areas that won’t be
developed for 50 years. We are going to get lots of student input. Some people want bike trails
and hiking trails. This isn’t going to happen this year- there will be either 1 big or 3 little ones.
If you have anything you want to see on this, let me know.
Sen. Wachira: I now there is bike or cycling club. Have you contacted those people?
EVP Coba: We are going to try and get these people involved. We are also gong to talk
to the cross-country team. Last point- I just got an email from UCSA- Pres. Napolitano
announced she would fully fund the dream loan program. This is phenomenal. This is going to
be a revolving loan. Also- on the topic of food and housing insecurity. The campus climate chair
is going to help us get some sort of public forum on Nov. 16th at SDSU. It’s on a Monday, so it’s
really inconvenient. They will be taking heavily about food and housing insecurity.
Sen. Drobenaire: Have you contacted the bicycle club. They have a couple of members
that are bike fiends and they will have some good ideas about that.
EVP Coba: Sign up for the million-student march. I’m tired of us taking public
education as a privilege and not a right. We need to change the public’s eye on higher education.
If you don’t see eye to eye with this, then talk to us about it.
Dir. of Communications Ramirez: Hello everyone- lighter things. Thank you for those
who tabled. Tomorrow is EcoFest- we will have a table. The whole point is that you all are out
there and having conversations with students and are engaging with them. It’s nice for you all to
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be out there. That will be from 11-2. If you signed up, great, stop but and say high and be out
there.
Senate chat is on November 3rd. It’s another tabling event where you all will be there. I
am working on a concrete strategic marketing plan. That’s in the works. If you have any input,
please reach out to me or go to my office hours. That’s it.
Sen. Memon: Did you ever look into the library pictures.
Dir. of Communications Andrea: I am submitting it.
Sen. Memon: I also noticed other campuses that had videos that addressed what is going
on at the time.
Officer Reports
a.
Senate Pro-Tempore- Cecilya Barba
Hey all- I hope you are all having a god week. Thank you for everyone who dressed up today. Also- to
mention what Andréa said about senate chat. You should all be there. Let’s have a good rest of our meeting.
b. Sergeant at Arms- Gabriel Hulbert
Happy we have a bigger show this week. All of you, please sign in. Also- about what Huber said. Don’t use
laptops during speakers and public forum. Take notes the old fashioned way if you need to. In a committee
meeting- we do not want to tell each other or speakers that we have a limited time. A few weeks back I noticed
this.
c. Secretary- Louie Castillo
Nothing.
d. ICC Liaison- Hunter Drobenaire
Met this Sunday in the bobcat lair and discussed a small ticket item. The ASUCM server is
down. There were six bills introduced and passed. ICC chair and vice chair will also be
working on it.
e. Court Liaison- Salma Memon
Hi everyone- so today we have court justice Jonez with us. We discussed procedures. That’s it.
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VIII.
Committee Reports
a. Budget and Finance- Johnny Yang
We met today at the ASUCM office at 1:30. Hulbert, a Maldonado, Martinez, Trejo and myself were there.
Treasurer Josh will be reporting about our funding for the semester. We also talked about bill #12. We will be
tackling that.
b. Academic Affairs- Hunter Drobenaire
We met at the meeting this week. (Cecilya). Adjourned at 6:17 pm.
c. Student Activities- Louie Castillo
Met in the ASUCM office today at 6:39. We discussed and voted on bill #2.
d. Student Advocacy- Michael Wallace
We met at 12. Manni and Marco were there. Adjourned at 12:30
IX.
Advisor's Report- Steve Lerer
I wanted to talk about- first of all a couple weeks ago we talked about Eco Champions. I had to write a national
paper on an article for sustainability. It’s all about UC Merced’s efforts on sustainability. It gives six suggestions to
discuss this. We thought that this was a very cool thing for us to do. If it comes out, it will be in March. It’ll be
exciting to get Merced’s efforts on this. The ASUCM website is crashed. Hopefully we get that fixed by tomorrow.
Leah Beza- our office assistant- will be open for two weeks. She is graduating. Go online and apply. I emailed
career services and asking them why that happened. Talking about bylaws- I’m glad you are all talking about
looking at your bylaws. Look at your funding structures holistically. We have looked at the bylaws and revised it,
and then rewrote them. I would encourage you all through an Ad hoc committee. Treats and Beats in on Friday.
Hopefully you all call. Huber and Domonique are MCs. I saw the layout- I’m really excited how it’s going to look.
So I encourage you all to come.
Now I want to talk about the 5 aspects of power- this struck me a couple of weeks ago when we were
talking about the SAGE bill. I want you to understand the power that you have on campus and the power you have
at this table. It talks about the 5 bases of power. In this position- you can use referent power. The president of
ASUCM has that power. Usually, the president has referent power. They feel like they are in that role for a reason.
That is a power that Domonique could use. All of these different types of powers can be used for positive or
negative. Someone who has referent power is also a co-leader. How are you utilizing those powers- or not utilizing
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them. The second is expert power. This is about the leaders competence. Ms. Whitt has expert power in student
affairs. Third is legitimate power- someone who has a position of authority that they are elected or appointed
power. Chris can talk about that too. That can be used really well or for really bad things. The fourth is reward
power- having the ability to give people stuff because they do what they do. Sometimes that’s really helpful and
can be used and abused. Finally, we have coercive power. You need to be cogniscent of the power you have over
the students who elected you. I just wanted to talk about that a little bit.
X.
President's Report- Domonique Jones
Happy Wednesday everyone- happy midterms! Okay- so I have some updates.
Sen. Guaderrama: With housing, did she mention the price range? Is it going to be the $15,000 students on
campus pay?
Pres. Jones: When I talked to Dr. Neis and Martin Reed said it would be similar to what is paid to live on
campus. Questions- comments, concerns.
Sen. Yang: I saw you sent out an email about Costco. Can you elaborate more about that?
Pres. Jones: This was sent out through CatLife- clubs. Costco is no longer accepting PCs from our
campus. There were quite a few involves that were being paid late. An alternative is SaveMart.
Sen. Wachira: I don’t understand how they can be paying late.
Advisor Steve (yielded by Gonzalez): Everyone on campus pays it. It was other departments on campus
that weren’t paying their bill by not turning in receipts.
Sen. Trejo: So- the dinner thing with Dr. Neis, would that be a time conflict with the SAC?
Pres. Jones: No it would be fine.
XI.
Treasurer's Report- Joshua Bustamante
Hello everyone- just wanted to update you on your budget. You have $30,000 left. Also, going to the financial
bylaws- each organization campus is supposed to submit a midyear progress report. This is about how they have
been allocating funding. It is due Nov. 30th. They have a little over a month to fill out the document and turn it in.
As Johnny said- we will be looking over the financial bylaws. That’s all
Sen. Memon: So last week, I asked if it would be possible to bring in where these people can get the
money from. Please send that.
XII.
Public Forum
AIAA: Hello, we have two bills that we are going to present next week. I just wanted to
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talk to you about what are club does- we were created three years ago with the mission of
providing experience in the Aerospace sector to discuss what that work is about. We are pushing
forward in getting a UAB minor- we have over 200 votes, and we presented it to VANGARD,
and we have their support. We are spearheading events at Castle Airport. We work on aircrafts.
We help to be part of the team that is restoring these aircrafts. We are doing lots of fundraisinglast year we did some Space Pizza and Space Ice Cream. We are going to do space cookies as
well. We are going to do imprints to put on the cups, plates and napkins. Everyone who gets a
purchase will get a certificate that says “JPL certified/ approved by NASA for consumption”.
That will probably increase profits. We are the 2nd biggest organization on campus. We have
over 240 members on our emailing list. We also want to do a raffle to talk about UROC- we got
3 of them for free. We want to provide a quad-coptor as a raffle prize. It’s 2 dollars per ticket.
We have 55 members willing to do this. That’s about a $3500 profit. If it’s a success, we can do
this over and over again. We are a project-based organization- we go around the world to
compete. We compete with MIT that has $10,000 in funds but we go with only $2,000. We got
63rd out of 100 with a $2000 aircraft.
Bobcat racing EV: Hello everyone- my name is Marcos. I am the president of the society
of Aeronautic Engineers. We are really looking forward to starting our projects for this bill. We
ar thrilled to get some hands-on stuff. We have only been working on protocol stuff. We are also
really looking forward to our community outreach. We want to show people here that there is
more to this world than what is right in front of you. We want students to know that there is
more to life than just sitting in a classroom. Also, I want to thank Chris because he has been an
incredible advisor. I also want to thank Chris Repps, Ivan and Greg who have been helpful in
getting this organization started.
AIAA: Hello my name is Derek- I am also a member of AIAA. We are focused on
giving members hands-on experience. From my experience, I have learned a lot of hands-on
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experience in this classroom. We take all of our engineering fundamentals to apply them in real
life. What we learn in class is purely theoretical. Things don’t always go as planned. From this
bill and DBF in general, it provides us with a lot of experience developing our skills. We
compete on an international scale. We get to challenge and refine our skills with schools all
around the world.
Chris Repps: Hi everyone- I’m, Chris I’m the astronautics chair for AIAA. We do
rockets, weather balloons. This is the second year we’ve had the rocket division. We are to
trying to expand this and complete in NASA completions and CANSAT. We keep getting our
name out there to show that we can compete with the other UCs. I’ve shadowed to get this
position, and am going down to the jet propulsion lab next weekend to help effectively lead my
club. I think that’s about it. I want to expand this club to help make it more accessible for
students to earn about what is possible in this space.
Trey: I am the treasurer of AIAA and project manager for CANSAT, which is where you
put small loads in rocket sand take data. When I first came here I didn’t know anything about
rockets. Basically with this I have been able to get hands on experience- we’ve gone to the Boys
and Girls Club and get boys and girls into engineering in general. Hopefully our bill is good- I
know you guys will pass it.
Greg Malose: We are here to ask you to vote for bill 12 to fund our electric bicycle and
our go-cart. We want to share about the redesigns, the rewrite ups and being able to project this
information to the public. The science is fine- but we want to share it with people and use these
steps to train our engineers. The engineering experience isn’t just math and numbers. We are
hoping that these bikes and go-carts will help create successful engineers from the skills that we
are acquiring.
Pres. of College Republicans: I am the executive chair of for the College Republicans.
One of the individuals who was tabling and was heckled and was told he was a “bigot, a racist,
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and a murderer.” This occurrence has been very difficult for my club and we are tired of being
demonized for our beliefs. We understand that during this election season is tumultuous. This
was not an isolated incident- this happens all the time to members of our club. After handfuls of
isolated incidents, it’s becoming ridiculous. Why is that any club can peacefully table but we
cannot? Why is this happening to our club? For a student government that preaches respect,
tolerance, and peace, there has been a lack of enforcement from this body. Can you imagine of
someone went to a difficult organization and heckled them? Some of you may be asking why
are you here today- I want the rules to apply to everyone. No one should be harassed for their
political beliefs. We will continue to stand up for ourselves to protect ourselves. We will not
tolerate this. If anyone in this room is open to working with us, please contact me.
The Law Clinic at UC Merced: Hi everybody- my name is Francisco Lima. I am
chairman of the law clinic. I am here to give you guys insight on what we do as a student
service. I’m Jessica and I am the director, I am Chris and Jacky and we are interns.
Who we are- the Law Clinic is a student resource dedicated to addressing and legal
concern that the student body might have. As to what we know- we are the only undergraduate
law clinic in the nation. We have never heard of any other school taking this kind of duty and
service.
If you ever need a lawyer- we provide you with legal advice until your court date for
free. We held students sufficiently navigate the system. Like Jessica has said- we get students
access legal council up until trial date. We refer students to our network of lawyers that we
have- we also host events that are called know Your Rights Events’ we do housing rights,
criminal rights, disability rights.
Successes: The Law clinic has handled over 500+ cases and saving the student body
thousands of dollars in legal fees. Due to the way we are structured, we can take lawyers from
all over the state. We don’t have them represent students- so they help guide them. Like said
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before, they tend to be a success. We try to do the best we can- we do this and they are really
fun to host. The interns and executives in this group- we are not a club, organization, we are a
student resource.
What we’d like to do is develop all our members into lawyers- through this
organizations. I’m pretty set on what I want to do. They’ve been successful and have helped me
find avenues to get LSAT practice. It’s all really help. I think this organization is great- just
because it has that mentor aspect to it. Basically- we are still growing. We are located in SSM,
2nd floor. I usually get 2-3 cases a week. I always get an attorney who can help them right away.
When one attorney can’t, we can always get other attorneys from other fields. We’ve even had
the Fresno consulate come to UC Merced. If you ever need advice, you can always come to us
about it.
XIII.
Old Business
a. Senate Bill #12: Funding for Society of Automotive Engineers Team (SAE) Bobcat Racing
EV Initiative (Introduced by Senator Hulbert)
Hulbert: I’m not going to do too much talking- I have spoken with each of you individually. This
is one thing that should be highlighted more. Unlike other things- this invests in the future. Baed off what
they said in the meeting, I’m sure they will be here long after they have graduated.
Sen. Memon: I know that the go-cart is going to be used for the growing experience.
Sen. Hulbert: This go-cart they are using is one of their intimal first projects- they are going to
train people with how to use it and how to build it. Other teams are sponsored by big names- we are
hoping to get those sponsorships.
Sen. Hulbert: I have 2 friendly amendments- there were rounding errors on the budget. The final
bill should have a .25 at the end. Also, the “be it enacted” needs to match the budget.
Sen. Memon: There was no amount listed in the purpose.
Sen. Hulbert: On the friendly amendment- the total amount needs to reflect
Vote: Approved: Hulbert, Wallace, Guaderrama, Gonzalez, Martinez, Barba, Castillo, Manon, Memon,
Trejo, Yang, Acosta, Nunez.
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Opposed: none
Abstentions: Maldonado
XIV.
New Business
a.
Presidential Nomination: Johnny Yang as the ASUCM Representative to the Health
Advisory Committee
Motion to approve Memon.
Seconded by Hulbert
Unanimously approved.
b.
Presidential Nomination: Carlos Gonzalez as the ASUCM Representative to the Health
Advisory Committee
Motion to approve Sen. Barba
Seconded Wallace
Jones There were 3 spots. This is the last spot.
Gonzalez: I am a first year- I want to get experience as a first year to take those
experiences for the future.
Approved
c. Presidential Nomination: Domonique Jones as the ASUCM Representative to the Campus
Physical Planning Committee (CPPC)
Sen. Yang
Sen. Barba
Pres. Jones: For those of you who don’t know, the CPPC provides advice to the campus and
makes recommendations concerning campus development and our long-range development
plan.
Unanimously approved
d. Senate Bill #13: Funding for Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Inc. at UC Merced for the 2016
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Dia de Las Rosas (Introduced by Senator Nunez)
Motion to send to all committees by Sen. Nunez
Seconded Sen. Castillo
Unanimously approved
e.
Senate Bill #14:Funding for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at UC
Merced Design, Build, Fly (DBF) Team Creation of Aircraft (Introduced by Senators Acosta and
Maldonado)
Motion to send to all committees by Sen. Maldonado
Seconded by Sen. Martinez
Unanimously approved
f.
Senate Bill #15: Funding for AIAA Rocket Division at UC Merced (Introduced by Senators
Acosta and Maldonado)
Motion to send to all committees by Sen. Maldonado
Seconded by Sen. Gonzalez
Approved
XV.
Announcements
a. Sen. Hulbert: Let’s try to limit the amount of people who get up. Props to Domonique and
Phil for taking pictures for the campaign.
b. Sen. Maldonado: Announcement- The UCMURJ is accepting submissions. If you want
more info talk to me after.
c. Sen. Nunez: Food pantry committee is meting tomorrow.
d. Sen. Acosta: AKP will have a churros and lemonade fundraiser.
e. Sen. Yang: Hmong student association will be fundraising with egg rolls.
f. Advisor Lerer: Students at the SJR this weekend mentioned they were thankful for funding
that. Secondly- talking about a raffle for some equipment- that’s illegal and a violation of
our penal code.
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XVI.
Adjournment
a. Motion to approve by Sen. Maldonado
b. Seconded by Sen. Castillo
c. Unanimously approved.
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