Confusion and disagreement were present in the ASCC Senate meeting held Wednesday, Feb. 11.
After initially discussing the plan to implement five hydration stations on campus, objections came from several senators.
There was unclear wording on the bill which led to several votes and re-votes.
Confusion in the senate led to wasted time and not being able to get through everything on the agenda.
The meeting lasted a total of 104 minutes.
The meeting had to be adjourned because there were not enough senators present as they had to leave because of their own obligations.
After the meeting Senator and Faculty Senate Student Liaison Victor Villalobos spoke out about the Student Affairs Assistants.
Lack of transparency and conflict of interest were his main points.
“Our president and vice president are at the forefront of student engagement but on what grounds?” he said.
“Other people that are members of clubs,” he continued. “Just the whole student body in general, who is not to say they are at the forefront of student engagement and qualified to hold that position?”
Villalobos also said that the ASCC president and vice president were recently given the position of administrative assistant.
There was no job application process, there is no job description and the president and vice president were hand-picked by the Dean of Student Services Gilbert Contreras.
They [president and vice president] will have a pay of $14.32 an hour.
A new clerk position which recently opened up that does include a job description pays $9.23 an hour.
The clerk position is open to all students.
The possible conflict of interest comes from the fact that the new position makes the president and vice president accountable to the dean of Student Services.
Before, they would have to answer to students and the senate but now they answer to the dean.
As a supervisor he is supposed to attach a job description that would fall under the title of ASCC president and vice president.
Villalobos was not able to show his presentation at the meeting but he will be presenting at next week’s meeting at BK 111, which is located to the right of the Bookstore and in front of the Game Room.
Senator Ivan Oyarzabal spoke about the conflict of interests within the ASCC Senate. He felt senators should fill their judicial obligations.
“It’s an important issue in terms of conflict of interest. There have been a variety of students that have voiced their concerns of who really is making the decisions and if this affects the credibility of the institution and ASCC.” he said.
Oyarzabal wants to encourage students to come out and voice their opinions at ASCC Cabinet and Senate meetings.
He believes it’s important for students to be informed of what’s going on.
Senator Hector Arellano also believes there is a conflict of interest issue going on.
“I think that there is a solution to the problem because if you look at the bylaws that the student government has in [its] constitution the senate can amend a bylaw to prohibit the president and vice president from having any paid jobs from the district,” he said.
Senator Joe Nino said, ‘”Personally, I wanted to strike the issue from the agenda because as senators, there’s nothing we can do about this decision.”
ASCC President Miles Aiello was not present because he was on a trip in Washington D.C. according to Contreras.
He sent his regards through a letter saying he felt strongly about sustainability and would like to see the hydration station motion pass.
At the meeting, Environmental Club discussed plans for a shaded patio to be built on campus.
This would include a garden with California-native plants and produce. This would give students a place to study and hang out.
Dr. David Betancourt asked for funding for the pep band.
A total of $2000 was cut from the original proposal. The $2000 was allocated for jackets for the band.
Funding for the Phi Rho Pi National Parliamentary Debate Association tournament and funding for the student trip to the awards ceremony were all passed as a joint block.
