Old and new business was discussed during the ASUA Senate meeting. There was a funding request from UA Listens, University Emergency Medical Services’ medical services request was approved and ASUA’s Supreme Court Rules of Procedures were updated and announced.
UA Listens is a Facebook page that allows open communication between students and ASUA where students can post petitions about what they want changed at the UA. For about a year, ASUA Sen. Joe Zanoni has been operating the page and has requested a total of $280 for ASUA to fund UA Listens’ Audience Definition that will begin after winter break and will have a potential outreach of 45,000 people.
The funding will be $20 per day for 14 days and will exclude people who have already liked the Facebook page. The age range will be 18-30 which includes undergraduates and graduates. The areas of interest that students can petition for are the UA, Arizona Wildcats, College of Medicine and UA Basketball.
ASUA Sen. David McGarey and ASUA Sen. Maddy Bynes suggested that the duration should be separated into two separate days of seven days each. The item was approved by the rest of the senate.
EMS requested funding of three or four iPads at the previous senate meeting. There was an open discussion about whether the senate should provide funding for the iPads and what their options could be with spending out of their budget. With four iPads, the senate would be giving a total of $2,356 and with three they would be giving $1,767.
“I encourage you guys to support this because these iPads are going to go into serious use,” said ASUA Sen. McGarey. “It makes their job more efficient and benefits every student on campus.”
ASUA Sen. Alec Kretch and ASUA Sen. Hailey Schwartz said they believe it will have a long-term effect on students because it is for their safety and enables EMS to be quicker on their calls. EMS has hit a record number of calls this semester and want to make sure they are able to help students in need as fast and efficiently as they can.
ASUA Sen. Matt Lubisich and ASUA Sen. McGarey said they believed that option three would be the best decision because EMS will be using the older generated iPads at their stations and the senate will fund for three of the newest versioned iPads for the staff that respond to calls. There was a formal amendment made to a total funding of $1,767.
James Carlson, chief justice of the ASUA Supreme Court, spoke to the senate about the proposed procedure changes that he and the court have worked together to formally change.
Parties will no longer serve each other and all pleading will be done with the clerk or via email. There was a change in the discretionary docket where the court will not say why they declined a case even if they have never declined a case in the past.
“If you look at the old Rules of Procedures compared to this new one, you will see there are pretty significant changes done,” Carlson said. “We have updated this version; when I say ‘we’ I mean the court and I, which includes four other chief justices. I encourage you all to look at everything.”
According to Carlson, the cover sheet is the “key” and is available online where the senate has access to the court system and can file a complaint by filling out a piece of paper. Carlson said the complaint cover sheets are also located outside ASUA’s main office.
Members from Bear Down Camp gave a presentation that included the annual agenda of what the counselors and incoming freshmen do, how many students attend and some history of why the program started. They are planning to recreate the program to make a bigger impact of freshmen throughout their college years.
The camp started in 1997 on Mt. Lemmon with about 50 campers and this year the camp held about 250 campers in Prescott for seven days. Each year, they hire new counselors and train them to prepare for when the incoming freshmen come.
Some announcements by the senate were that ASUA is still doing club visits for the next election, Family Weekend is changing next year to include a parent’s perspective when organizing the events and that Freshman Class Council and Students for Sustainability volunteered at the Zero Waste football game for ASUA bonding.
Follow Gabriella Vukelic on Twitter.
