Senate
approves Beach Pride resolution
By
Gerry Wachovsky
On-line Forty-Niner
The
final A.S. Senate meeting of the semester
saw an approval of a resolution authorizing
a new agreement on the distribution of student
fees.
Executive
director of Associated Students Inc., Richard
Haller, detailed the plan to the Senate
and broke down how, exactly, the funds would
be distributed. The sports operating budgets,
according to Haller, were reduced 5 percent,
and he also said that A.S.I. will be responsible
for annually auditing the sports, athletics
and recreation department’s agreement
with the new terms. Haller said he believes
this will create more student involvement
within S.A.R.
In
other news, A.S.I. President Danny Vivian,
in his weekly report to the Senate, discussed
the deal that Charles Reed, chancellor of
the Cal State University system, California
Education Secretary Richard Riordan and
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came to regarding
the budget crisis and its relation to higher
education.
According
to Vivian, they agreed not to increase the
General Fund this year and they will not
cut the Educational Opportunity Program.
Vivian
also noted that while undergraduate fees
could go up by 14 percent and graduate fees
by 20 percent, next Wednesday the board
of trustees would be meeting to vote to
further increase the fees. Vivian urged
the Senate body to “Support the legislators
that are [angry] about this,” and
to fight to preserve quality higher education.
While
several of the Senate members will be returning
next year to continue representing the students,
certain senators will be moving on in their
professional lives. Over the course of the
year, the Senate intent on many conflicts
and enacted numerous resolutions that affect
a myriad of students on campus. It also
resolved what proved to be a controversial
issue brought forth by the Armenian Student
Association alleging Turkish involvement
in the genocide of Armenians. In the end,
the two groups “agreed to disagree”
and the Senate diffused what might have
become a sticky situation. In addition,
they debated about issues relating to fees
students have to pay, and fought for campus
organizations.
The
senators collectively agreed that they accomplished
a large amount this year and a number of
members expressed how honored they are to
have served on the Senate.
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