Senior music major Christopher Rodriguez was appointed as the new parking and safety senator at Wednesday’s Associated Students, Inc., senate meeting.
ASI President Demi Wack said the personnel committee interviewed 12 candidates and recommended Rodriguez be selected. Rodriguez was appointed unanimously and immediately took his seat at the table. He had unsuccessfully run for ASI senate last spring.
Prior to the Rodriguez vote, Wack reported on several projects she is working on. They include better lighting around the residence halls and in the residence hall parking lot; having free feminine products available on campus; improving and expanding the Bulldog Express shuttles; possibly developing a partnership with Bird scooters; and having the Henry Madden Library open 24 hours during finals.
Kate Tuckness, the controller for Fresno State’s Auxiliary Corporations, presented the annual audit report and a report on net assets to the senate. She said Price, Paige and Company did the audit for the ninth-straight year. In their management letter, auditors noted a change in how club and organization funds are accounted for in accordance with California State University system policy.
Tuckness said ASI “is in a very good financial position.”
According to the audit report, ASI had $1,076,204 in cash on June 30, 2017 and $1,083,421 on June 30, 2018. Total assets in 2017 were $1,093,984 and $1,094,952. Total current liabilities in those years were $175,003 and $151,934. Revenues were $912,269 in 2017 and $900,398 in 2018; expenses were $898,502 and $876,361. That left $13,767 and $24,037 to be distributed to reserves.
Tuckness then discussed the reserve balances. In the operating reserve account, there is $493,500 currently on hand. There is $55,222 in the capital reserve and $204,444 in the planned future operations reserve account. Tuckness said the $204,444 includes planned expenditures this year of $20,000 for benches in the Peace Garden and $85,000 for the ASI Impact Grant.
Late in the meeting, there was a lengthy discussion about changing syllabuses. Dr. Thomas Holyoke, chair of the Academic Senate, said possible changes to the syllabus template have been referred to the senate’s Student Affairs Committee for further study. He then solicited feedback from ASI.
The potential changes are focused on making syllabuses more user-friendly by possibly decreasing the amount of information included. Senators discussed leaving things as they are, creating a student handbook, or putting information on Blackboard instead of in syllabuses. A suggestion to move information on student mental health services to a separate page stapled to syllabuses was also made.
The senators suggested that the more information available on student services, such as counseling on campus, the better. Holyoke recommended the minutes of Wednesday’s discussion be sent to the academic senate committee for its review.
Earlier in the meeting, students were appointed to various committees. Hisham Qutob and Felicity Evans were appointed to the legal committee; Hannah Stinksi-Ertl was appointed to the personnel committee. Maiyoua Thao, Jourdain Solis and Claudia Amador were named to the academic committee. Omar Hernandez, Rodrigo Zurita and Deepshikha Balasbubramanian were named to the diversity committee.
In other appointments, Meghan Clifton, Fernando Garcia and Jacqueline Serrano were appointed to the activities committee; Nadia Jassim and Aaron Lowe were named to the finance committee. Rafael Cervantes and Gobind Puniani were both named to The Collegian committee. Kalia P. Vang and Christina Gonzales were named to the legislative committee and Noah Contreras was named to the President’s Commission on Disabilities committee.
The senate also approved ASI’s priorities for this academic year. They include: increase access to and awareness of campus and ASI resources; increase student safety on campus and in the surrounding communities; improve campus climate and school pride; promote comprehensive student development through career readiness and civic engagement; and promote a healthy and sustainable campus.