The Fresno State Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) held its biweekly student senate meeting Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. in the University Student Union (USU). The agenda for the meeting contained two information items and five action items for the senate to vote on.
During the roll call, ASI President Omar Hernandez decided to diverge from the normal roll call response of “present” and instead said, “Bulldog born, Bulldog bred.” This prompted other senators to also change their response to phrases like “Go Dogs” and “Be bold,” however, there were a few senators who said present.
The meeting got underway with public comments, a time allowed for members of the public or the university to address the senate.
One of the comments was from Laura Yager of the University Registrar, who spoke to the senate about directory information and how the registrar is looking to add students’ email addresses, mailing addresses and phone numbers. However, before the department does anything with the directory information, Yager wanted to get suggestions and feedback from the student body.
The senate asked Yager to come back next meeting and expand on what the University Registrar’s plans are and how this could affect students.
The meeting moved on to the approval of the agenda and the minutes. Once that was approved, the senate moved to the reports.
During the campus administration reports, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Dr. Frank Lamas talked about how the Veterans Center had moved the University Center to the space right next to the Bucket.
After the reports, the meeting continued with new business, which consisted of three information items and four action items.
The first information item presented was the Graduate Net Initiative, a program that was dedicated for graduate students and their success. However, Dr. Maritere Lopez, the program coordinator, told the senate that due to the ending of the program’s funding, the initiative would no longer be active.
For the next information item, ASI Vice President of Finance Kevin Prill informed the senate of a plan to change a policy regarding new club grants. Prill told the senate that there will be a rolling deadline instead of a set date and that only new clubs would be allowed to ask for the $500 grant.
The meeting moved on to action items, the first of which the senate voted on was the elections timeline item. The senate voted to hold the ASI elections next semester March 24-26 and have the candidate applications due on Feb. 13.
The next action item voted on was not on the agenda nor found on the ASI website or in the copies found at the meeting. Instead, it was on the agenda posted outside of the ASI office.
That action item was a vote on what to do with four computers that were replaced in the ASI office. The senate voted to donate two of the computers to the Veterans Center, sell one computer at market value and donate the fourth computer at the discretion of the ASI executive team.
The next two action items voted on were the at-large ASI committee appointments and the campus-wide committee appointments, both of which passed.
Prill spoke to the senate for the last item on the agenda, about how ASI is looking into purchasing a golf cart to help with ASI promotional events. The senate discussed how the golf cart would be used and who would have access to the cart.
ASI is expected to have its next meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at the University Student Union Room 312-314.