Author: Lilliane Ballesteros
At the March 26 Senate meeting, Senior Class Senator’s Ken Smutny announced his intention to resign from his position. ASOC President Ryan Bowen (senior) introduced Jimmy Gillan (senior) as Smutny’s proxy for the remainder of the semester during the April 2 Senate meeting. According to the March 26 minutes, “[Smutny] told the Senate that he was resigning from his post, and that though he would prefer his post remain vacant, if the Senate would need a replacement; they could find one in either one or two weeks depending on methodology.”
The minutes went on to explain Smutny’s resignation announcement. “[Smutny] addressed the Senate, telling them that he felt as if he had learned a lot about how bureaucracy does or does not work, and that he would do it again given the chance. He exhorted the other senators to stay out of meetings, since the school would more or less run itself, and to instead do what gave them life.”
According to the Senate By-Laws, “If there are fewer than 10 weeks remaining in the Senator’s term, the President shall appoint an individual for the unexpired term of office subject to the approval of Senate. Approval shall be given by a simple majority vote.” As President, Bowen chose Gillan, the developer of the ASOC algorithm, to fill Smutny’s vacancy until the end of the semester. According to the minutes, “[Smutny] said that he had submitted his letter of resignation and would be sending a proxy to be his appointee apparent.”
Bowen opened the April 2 Senate meeting with what he called “midterm grading” for Senators. He told Senators to grade themselves by the end of the meeting, telling them to keep their work while on the Senate in mind.
General Assembly Co-Chair Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz (junior) updated the Senate, saying the GA would not have a meeting the week of April 7, since the Co-Chairs were unable to secure a visit by the Registrar. Bowen told the Senate that he was working with the GA and talking to Board of Trustees member Dennis Collins about organizing a GA that would focus on next year’s Presidential Search Committee. The GA will work on getting President Robert Skotheim to attend the meeting as well.
Bowen said the Senate needed to amend the Constitution since the GA would not be meeting the required 10 meetings per semester. Campus Wide Senator Rob Calderon (sophomore) said he was already working with the GA to create the amendment so that the Constitution would state the GA needed to meet 10 weeks per academic year. He also said they were working on the process for creating propositions so that people who proposed propositions would need to meet with the GA Co-Chairs at least 24 hours before the GA meeting. The amendment would need to go through both the GA and the Senate in order to be approved.
Senate advisor Kenna Cottrill reminded the Senate they needed to pass next year’s ASOC budget before the end of April.
The Senate was held up by a funding request from Rangeview Hall for a ping-pong table. The algorithm allotted $281.70 for Rangeview Hall. Senators discussed the request, questioning whether the Senate should be funding a residence hall instead of the hall getting funds from Residence Hall Association (RHA). Finance and Public Relations Committee Co-Chair and Junior Class Senator Patrick McCredie explained the committee’s reason for allowing the funding, saying that the table would be open to the whole campus, since Rangeview’s recreation room is open to all students. Discussion continued and the Senate tabled the request until further information could be gathered on whether the hall’s Residence Advisors sought funds from RHA and whether RHA could fund the table.
Junior Class Senator and Finance and Public Relations Committee Co-Chair Mike Myers told Senators there were still funds available to the Senate for the rest of the semester. “There are some surplus funds for ASOC, but not necessarily for the Senate,” he said. He said the ASOC is reserved in working with the finances and underestimated how much money is coming from student fees, resulting in some extra funds at the end of the semester. The extra funds will help the Senate continue to fund club events.
The Senate also discussed their goal to sell ASOC t-shirts in an attempt to fundraise.
Campus Wide Senator Rozell Hodges (senior) said he was working on getting retention rates for students of color at Oxy, and was looking at retention rates at Pomona College in comparison to Oxy.
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