|
Senate
hears objections to rec. center
Farewell
• President Robert Maxon bid farewell
to the Associated Students, Inc. at their
meeting last night. He announced that he
has no definitive plans yet, but will let
the campus community know as soon as he
does. Jamie Rowe / Online Forty-Niner
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant Opinion Editor
Wednesday's
Associated Students Senate meeting dealt
with wide-ranging business. The meeting
began with President Maxson giving the Senate
an official statement concerning his retirement.
A new senator for the College of Natural
Sciences and Math was sworn in, a pay raise
amendment was voted on and students representing
a group opposing the recreation center spoke
to the senators.
Maxson,
reiterating his official plans for retirement,
promised to stay in the Long Beach area.
"This will be my home," he said.
In
other news, opposition to the recreation
center has taken a voice. Jeb Sprague, member
of the Campus Progressives, spoke for a
group called the CSULB Coalition to Stop
the $35 Million Rec. Center. Sprague read
from a flyer detailing the group's opposition
to the proposed recreation center.
The
arguments in the flyer center on the use
of student money to build a center whose
costs, Sprague said, have not been accurately
addressed. Those costs, the flyer says,
would total at $30 million. Students would
pay a fee each semester to fund the center's
construction. This fee would be in addition
to the fees currently paid by students.
In
addition to the list of grievances, a list
of alternatives was included in the flyer.
Among the five options was the idea to "re-establish
student control over Frog's Gym."
The
flyers had also been distributed in at least
one of the four recent focus groups held
to determine student interest in a recreation
center. Andrew Brooks, a third-year political
science major, was in that focus group and
spoke after Sprague.
"It
was a really inappropriate time," Brooks
said, "to be presenting such material."
He
also felt the flyers were an attempt to
"manipulate" the focus group.
The third page of the flyers was titled
"How to Answer the Focus Group Questionnaire"
The flyer encouraged students to "answer
all of the questions with a negative response."
In
other Senate business, Senator Audrian Aviles
was sworn in as a senator. She will be representing
the College of Natural Sciences and Math.
Aviles
was encouraged to apply to fill the vacant
senate seat by ASI President Mike Johnson
and Senator Hironao Okahana.
Even
before being officially sworn in, Aviles
had been actively pursuing the obligations
of office. She has already talked to two
pre-professional student organizations in
the college to learn about their needs.
She has also been attending college council
meetings.
ASI
President Mike Johnson lauded her dedication.
"She's doing quite well," he said.
In
a slightly unusual turn, a floor vote was
taken on a Senate pay amendment. The amendment,
proposed by Senator Morgan Wheeler, would
allow senators to receive a stipend each
semester equivalent to 25 percent of the
cost of tuition. The stipend would have
to be written into the budget annually.
This would happen before elections each
May.
The
amendment was passed 14-2, with three abstentions.
The two opposing votes came from Senators
Melissa Duque and Estee Sepulveda.
"I
definitely feel that when you serve the
students I don't need a monetary compensation
for that," Senator Sepulveda said.
Senator
Hironao Okahana, who requested the roll
call vote, said that such a vote was needed
for accountability purposes.
|
