The Associated Student Inc. convened last week for a Valentine’s Day meeting, which addressed continued efforts to tackle the issues of mental health, drug awareness and homelessness on campus and to appoint a new senator of veteran and transfer affairs.

ASI budget call deadline

The ASI budget call process will come to an end Friday at 11:59 p.m. A tweet posted to the ASI twitter account Tuesday evening encouraged clubs and programs on campus seeking funding to submit an online application available through the ASI website.

All applications are reviewed by the ASI Vice President of Finance as well as the finance committee. With new procedures in place for the approval process, applicants can now present to the committee and vice president of finance to ask questions and provide further detail during the review process.

According to the ASI website, all applicants are asked for a description of the use of funds and a brief budget. The website describes the criteria for ASI budget requests as “programs and services that uphold, expand, and execute the mission and scope of the organization.”

In order to present to the committee, an email must be sent to the vice president of finance at the following email address: [email protected] after a completed application has been submitted.

The deadline to request to present during the review process is March 2.

Homelessness bill, mental health and drug awareness ­

ASI senators continued to tackle issues affecting students such as drug awareness, mental health and homelessness. Sen. Alexandra Chavez of, student affairs, was absent for the meeting but submitted a letter for Executive Vice President Brandon Sepulveda to read on her behalf regarding a former student of the university student who died.

“Earlier this month, Fresno State lost another member of it’s community, Adrian Valdez,” Chavez wrote. “No one saw this coming and it is yet another reminder that we never truly see the pain that someone is going through. I ask you all to work on projects in your respective areas to let students know Fresno State and student body representatives not only hear them but also value their lives.”

Chavez organized a mental health task force after the death of Ana Alcantar, a well-known student on campus. Chavez has been an advocate for wellness and sharing mental health resources with students. ­

“We cannot lose another student like how we lost Ana or Adrian,” Chavez wrote. “This needs to be a campus-wide priority.”

ASI President Blake Zante announced a substance use forum on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the North Gym.

“It’s a follow up to our walk for awareness event that we held,” Zante said during the meeting, referring to the Drug Awareness Walk that was organized after student Omar Nemeth died in January.

Zante also discussed a combined effort with Vice President of External Affairs Demi Wack and California Assemblywoman Anna Caballero to encourage for the passage of a homelessness bill for students experiencing unstable housing situations.

Zante said Caballero will be on campus on Thursday at 3 p.m. to unveil the bill and speak with students about efforts to provide emergency homelessness relief on college campuses.

New Senators of Veterans Affairs

ASI voted in favor of appointing Jordan Cody into office as the new Senator of Veteran and Transfer Affairs. The position was held by Cody Sedano, who announced his sudden resignation on Jan. 24.

Sen. Sebastian Wenthe of, clubs and organizations, praised the new senator, saying “Jordan Cody is a veteran and he is probably one of the most integrous people that I know.” He went on to say, “He is the most qualified person that I know for this position.”

After a vote, with one abstention from Sen. Travis Childress of, Greek affairs, Cody was asked to take a seat with the other senators as the newly appointed senator of veteran and transfer affairs.

Spirit Team could get spring priority registration

The Fresno State Spirit Team addressed ASI about a resolution which would grant cheer students and dance team students priority registration for the spring semester.

Currently the team only receives priority registration for the fall semester. Sierra Grand, a cheerleader, spoke on behalf of the Spirit Team about the difficulties of balancing graduating on time and maintaining a busy cheer schedule when they are unable to select the classes they need.

“Not only do we cheer for football, we cheer for volleyball, we cheer for basketball. Men’s and women’s. We are everywhere all the time,” Grand said.

The senate voted to pass a resolution to urge campus administration to allow the spirit team to have spring priority registration.