During the weekly senate meeting on Wednesday, an ASUO Executive-led campus safety campaign was announced, five student group special requests were heard and the possibility of a new ASUO position was discussed.
In the early minutes of the session, ASUO Director of Staff Casey Edwards and University Affairs Commissioner James West took the floor. They spoke on behalf of the ASUO’s plans to carry out a campaign addressing campus safety in the wake of the Umpqua Community College Shooting. Edwards criticized the fact that a majority of classrooms do not have locks on doors, and among those that do lock, they are not able to be locked from inside. Edwards also said that the fact that desks in lecture halls are screwed to the floor is problematic, as it prevents them from being used as barricades.
Plans to present University Senate with a lock down drill was discussed. This will inform the community of how to deal with emergency situations. Senators were informed of a forum on the 3rd of November, where students will have the opportunity to voice concerns regarding campus safety. Edwards brought up the incident over the summer where a man was arrested at Knight Library for claiming to carry a gun.
Getting an amount of $6,000, Huafeng magazine is covered for this year’s printing budget. Huafeng is a bilingual, magazine that aims to share Chinese culture on campus with articles in both English and Chinese, as well as a staff consisting of both international and domestic students. Huafeng’s speakers for the night, which included its Editor-in-Chief Stanley Qifeng Yang, highlighted the publication’s role in also “building a bridge for Chinese international students to get more involved on campus” by providing information on community events.
The publication releases 400 issues per term, three times a year. Magazine representative said as Chinese student enrollment raises, the demand for the magazine also raises, explaining the special request for the extra fund on top of its approved budget and sponsors from local businesses.
Senator Zach Lusby expressed his support for the magazine’s contents and art works.
The senate passed its request unanimously.
All other student organizations requests passed. Senate approved to fund the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association’s requests of $2,000 in traveling costs to the National American Pacific American Bar Association Conference along with a $1,000 transfer request. Climate Justice League received $200 to host its biannual event. Net Impact Graduate chapter went home with $500 for events throughout the year. Black Law Student Association received an amount of $900 and $500 of reimbursement, because last year the student group couldn’t access the approved fund and had to pay out-of-pocket for its academic retreats.
The senate then spent 30 minutes discussing the last special request, funding for the senate ASUO Mediator, a temporary position that the ASUO office suggests.
Senator Abel Cerros, who represented the request, asked for an amount of $3,795 to pay the hourly wage for this position. The individual who was hired for the position will navigate conflict, bias and neutrality, at $11 per hour.
The position will hold four main responsibilities including serving as a source of information, investigating complaints that ASUO branch cannot resolve, intervening during debates to educate and de-escalate conflicts and seeking to right the injustice.
Applications will be available on the ASUO website. ASUO Office will then proceed to interview the applicants to choose the comparable individual, Cerros said.
The request sparked some arguments within the Senate. Senator Zachary Rentschler expressed concern that the position should be paid with stipend instead of by the hour, while senator Jason Selby said senate should stay clear of the hiring process to keep the neutral point of view.
Senator Andrew Dunn and Martin Martinez were in favor of voting on the request right away. They said the senate has considered this position for sometime, and the request can be a “draft.” Senator Evan Roth said many details need to be further discussed, suggesting to postpone the senate vote to next week’s meeting. The senate voted in favor of postponing the request.
Tran Nguyen contributed to this article.