The Associated Students of the University of Arizona, the university’s undergraduate student governing body, met on Wednesday, Sept. 22 to discuss the club recognition process closing after sixteen months.
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. and adjourned at 7:40 p.m.. The Senate gathered in the Madera room of the Student Union Memorial Center and over Zoom.
According to ASUA’s post-meeting minutes, two senators were marked absent during roll call: Elsa Ayon, senator for the College of Education, and Paige Campbell, senator for the College of Nursing.
Club Recognition
The club recognition process has been open throughout the pandemic for a total of sixteen months, but it is finally closing on Friday, Sept. 24. Any club that submits their registration before this date will be reviewed for approval.
Sylvester Gaskin, associate Dean of Students for Student Governance & Programs, announced this during the meeting. He said 268 clubs were approved and 86 were in the queue as of Sept. 22.
“In the past few years there have been about 300 to 400 clubs on campus. The highest number ever was about 600 but that was many years ago,” he said.
The ASUA website provides guides for clubs looking to gain recognition. The largest issue with failing to gain recognition is because “they’re just not filling out information right,” Gaskin said, but “the groups that get it done the first time breeze right through.”
Club recognition will reopen in April 2022.
Petition to Change Library Hours
The senate was briefed on a petition to give more funding back to the libraries so they can expand their operating hours by Dre Arevalo, a freshman majoring in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science.
Arevalo started the petition because the library changed its hours from being open 24/7 before the pandemic to closing at 11:59 p.m. on school nights and closing at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The library reduced the number of hours it was open due to budget cuts during the pandemic. Now that in-person classes have returned, Arevalo wants the hours to return to 24/7 so students can study there past midnight.
“I can’t think of a time my freshman year I couldn’t go to the library whenever I wanted,” said Louise Lalescu, senator for the College of Science.
Notable Mentions
Lady Elli, student body senator, is collaborating with Wildcats Events Board to host Asian Market Night. They are working with the Pan Asian Council, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs and Asian-owned businesses to host this event.
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