The Associated Students of the University of California in Irvine(ASUCI) hosted an informational meeting to discuss recent updates about the ASUCI Senate on Jan. 19.
One such update was the reminder of ASUCI’s first virtual concert series, “Press Play: A Concert Series + UCI Exclusive Q+A.” The first featured artist was Leven Kali, who performed on Friday, Jan. 15. According to Student Services Vice President Cathlyn Diller the event was “a huge success.” ASUCI representatives said that the concerts will be held weekly on the official ASUCI YouTube page.
ASUCI President Michelle Mallari detailed ASUCI’s plans to create a high school outreach survey focused on college students answering the prompt “if you were a current student right now, what advice would you give to high school students right now while you’re applying to college?” Mallari also said that ASUCI is working on a petition to extend the pass/no pass deadline for all academic courses due to the extenuating circumstances students are faced with during the pandemic. Mallari also encouraged attendees to voice their input regarding ASUCI affairs. “People really are willing to listen and really do care!” Mallari said.
Internal Vice President Hannah Quach said that applications for the Anteater Mentorship Program (AMP) are open for students who are interested in assisting first-year students transition into their first year of college.
The External Vice President Alan Calderon announced that ASUCI will be holding a on Jan. 25. The panel detailed how students can apply for the UCI Pell Grant and take advantage of other scholarship opportunities.
Calderon also said that ASUCI will be holding a to educate students about “racial disparities in disability services, education and policing” on Wednesday, January 27. Calderon concluded by reminding students of the deadlines to register for the 2020 aimed at encouraging students of all backgrounds to join together and discuss cultural similarities in land, food and the environment. He also encouraged students to apply for the for an opportunity to advocate on issues affecting higher education before the Feb. 21 deadline.
Student Advocate General Isabelle Lee said that the Anteater Recreation Center (ARC) Advisory Board applications are open for students who are interested in “providing guidance to the ARC administration in regards to the operation of the building’s facilities. The board also serves to represent the student body as a whole and present necessary feedback on new policies, activities, or anything else that may affect users of the facility.” She also said that the Joint Committee on Student Representatives will, “begin holding monthly meetings with student advisory boards and will send quarterly board updates” in order to better inform students of the actions going on in the ASUCI administration.
Chief Media and Technology Officer Brandon Wee said that the Chief Media and Technology Office (CMTO) will be launching new marketing initiatives and campaigns aimed at promoting ASUCI and all its events. They are still accepting submissions for requests to create ASUCI event graphics in the form linked here.
Ivan Fonseca, ASUCI Senate president, provided updates for the ASUCI Senate. They “finally passed a budget for the 2020-21 school year after much debate,” Fonseca said. They were also able to successfully impeach their former Judicial Board members for “outstanding corruption charges” which allowed them to pass the new budget without opposition. They created a COVID-19 Pass/No Pass Committee headed by ASUCI Senator Steven Dauglash, the Anteater Safety Net Grant Committee with around $250,000 set aside to provide financial relief to students who qualify and the LQBTQ+ committee at UCI.
The event concluded with ASUCI Senators Chirag Shah and Steven Dauglash who spoke about ASUCI’s new Senate budget.
“The budget we came up with included significant cuts in many areas, and these cuts were necessary to provide enough money in the Senate unallocated funds,” Shah said.
The new ASUCI student advocacy agenda now focuses on elections, reforming services for students, local affairs, tuition and financial aid and state and federal budget priorities, which is different from last year’s budget. They also provided more details about the recent impeachment of the former Judicial Board.
Shah said that students can share their questions and concerns about the recent changes to the Senate at ASUCI’s weekly Senate meetings which are held every Tuesday from 7-9 p.m.
James Huston is a Campus News Intern for the Winter 2021 Quarter. He can be reached at hustonj@uci.edu
