ASUAF meets regularly to discuss the welfare of students on and off campus.
Dianna Rupp / Sun Star
Present: Erik Rickards, Jonathan Quiñones, Sabrina Martin, Ryan Cain, Kayleen Hansen, Allyssia Garcia and Mickey Zakurdaew.
Absent: Benjamin Anderson-Agimuk, Cordero Reid, Brandon Blum and Aileen Hadaway
Chancellor Mike Powers and Vice Chancellor Mike Sfraga visited the senate at this week’s meeting to discuss topics ranging from Title IX and the Green Dot program to the possibility of a tuition increase.
Chair Quiñones began the weekly Sunday meeting at 4:04 p.m. in room 208 of the Gruening building. Chancellor Powers kicked off the meeting by presenting the senate with a brief overview of his life and work previous to becoming Chancellor. He then answered any questions the senators had.
Though no solid plan for a tuition increase has been created, Powers mentioned a few different options that were being looked at, including increasing tuitionfor all students or increasing it for graduate and upper-division students only.
Vice Chancellor Sfraga then spoke with the senate about the idea of moving the bookstore into the Wood Center and the possibility of an Apple store being placed in the area that Polar Perk previously inhabited, by the upstairs Wood Center sitting area.
After thanking Powers and Sfraga for their visit, the senate unanimously approved the minutes of the previous meeting and discussed the elections board. Though no nominations were made during the meeting, Vice President Colby Freel reminded the senate that there was only one spot left open and that he hopes to have the committee meet within the next few weeks.
The senate moved into officer reports, where senate chair Jonathan Quiñones claimed 12 hours spent meeting with students for the past week. public relations director Hannah Witherington claimed seven hours spent tabling for ASUAF and speaking with clubs. Government relations director Leslie Drumhiller claimed seven hours, which were spent working on a job shadow program. President Mathew Carrick and Vice President Colby Freel did not report hours for the week.
Senator Sabrina Martin introduced a bill created by the public relations committee outlining the senate’s support of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, which Chair Quiñones placed in the Student Affairs Committee for analysis.
Afterwards, the senate moved into discussion of legislature in second reading where SB 185-005, which would create a paid position for a concert board coordinator, and SB 185-006b, a bill that would change ASUAF bylaws so as to allow students to hold two paid positions with the senate at a time, were both passed unanimously.
Vice President Freel reminded the senate of his hope of having ASUAF go bowling with other student organisations and Chair Quiñones called for adjournment at 6:02 p.m.