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Fresno State’s Associated Students, Inc. senate decided that no action will be taken against President Pedro Ramirez or Vice President of Finance Cesar Sanchez regarding the accusations that had been leveled at them.
Ramirez had been accused of violating ASI bylaws, and the investigation was headed by Jaime Moncayo, senator at large of Legislative Affairs. Moncayo said that Ramirez was being investigated for his involvement in a traffic accident January 9, in which Ramirez was driving without a license or insurance, and that no action would be taken.
The accusations against Sanchez were rather vague, and no clarification was given Wednesday afternoon as to what those charges were. Sanchez asked senator Steven Chabolla, who headed the personnel committee’s investigation of Sanchez, to clarify what he was being investigated for. Chabolla did not respond.
“The three items were: No. 1, that I wasn’t signing papers fast enough,” Sanchez said. “You cited the $1,500 Centennial retreat that I was against, and that I gave the option for Pedro and for Selena [Farnesi] to sign, and the third item was the two anonymous complaints that were sent in last December saying that I was rude to Selena.”
“This process has been a circus show that has gone on for a semester for the purpose of trying to taint someone’s image,” Sanchez said.
Many of the newly elected senators were present, sitting alongside the current senator they will replace when the new term begins June 1.
The public comment session for the meeting was rather tame in comparison to those earlier in the year. Josh Edrington, coordinator for Student Involvement and adviser for all of the student clubs and organizations on campus, addressed the senate concerning two action items that the senate would be voting on that day: OrgSync and Vintage Days.
OrgSync is the club and organization management system that has been implemented for the past two years in their office, Edrington said. It is a software that allows Fresno State to keep the 250-plus clubs and organizations running smoothly; a job that previously required the use of mountains of paperwork. Edrington asked the senate to approve enough funds to keep OrgSync operating. He also asked the senate to approve enough funds in next year’s budget to keep Vintage Days going.
Graduate student Hector Cerda spoke next. Cerda said that during spring break he had attended the California State Student Association’s California Higher Education Student Summit Conference in Sacramento, along with several senators and other ASI members, including some he had been at odds with over 2010’s failed DREAM Act legislation.
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Those who went “may have dissenting opinions,” Cerda said. “But we did something together. We did it as a group.”
Cerda asked the senate to ponder what they had done at the conference, and to keep it in mind during their terms next year. On Friday, May 13, Cerda will again lead a group to the state capital for a “flash mob giant pillow fight,” a unique form of protest against future CSU budget cuts.
Political Science major Elijah Carrillo voiced his disagreement to the appointment of Brandi Jacobs as senator of Social Sciences at the March 9 ASI meeting.
“Two hundred and fifty students, including myself, submitted a petition asking for the removal of Brandi Jacobs from the ASI senate on March 23, 2011,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo has several objections to Jacobs’ appointment, including alleged violations of ASI bylaws and the manner in which the vote was tallied on March 9, and asked for an assessment of the situation by Fresno State President John Welty and Vice President for Student Affairs Paul Oliaro.
The senate approved a budget of $570,719.50 for 2011-2012, after more than $15,000 was trimmed from the previously proposed budget.