The Associated Students of the University of Arizona, UA’s undergraduate student government, approved Students for Sustainability funding and reviewed their election funding caps at their Nov. 13 senate meeting.
Students for Sustainability funding
SFS originally requested $5,000 to purchase a new garden shed at the Oct. 30 senate meeting. In that meeting, SFS explained their garden shed had been robbed multiple times.
“Continued break-ins and problems have cost us thousands of dollars in stolen items, as well as almost ten thousand in vandalism damage, that sort of thing,” said Alexandre Dubroy, manager of the UA community garden. “We’re looking to stop the thefts at the source.”
RELATED: Senators pass two new resolutions (ASUA Notebook: 11/6/2019)
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Senator Matt Hernandez suggested partial funding for the time being.
“I personally am in favor of reducing the $5,000 to a lower amount and then allowing you guys to explore other options,” Hernandez said. “And then if need be, I would recommend coming back to us and asking for more. I know we want to help as much as we can, but looking at the long run and what we want to do with our funds, I don’t know if we want to deplete our budget so quickly.”
Senate approved $2,500 for SFS.
Election funding
Senate discussed lowering the election spending limit for the next election.
Election commissioner Reed Hirshman suggested limiting president, administrative vice president and executive vice president candidates to $500 during their campaign and a $300 limit for senate candidates.
“We looked back at what people spent,” Hirshman said. “We used not last year’s election, but the year before as a pretty good model. We realized nobody spent close to what the limits were. I think the max got near $300.”
Senator Hernandez and At-large Senator Rocque Perez advocated for higher caps for at-large senate candidates.
“I would be favorable of increasing at-large senator position, because they [are] currently similar to how executive positions run in terms of needing the whole student body to vote,” Hernandez said.
Hirshman understood their argument but pointed out that no candidate had reached anywhere close to their previous cap.
Nathan Dysko, senator for the College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture agreed with Hirshman.
“I do think just from a perception standpoint, grouping all the senators together is a better option, because all the senators are all on the same playing field in terms of responsibility and presence in the senate,” Dysko said.
The changes passed with one abstention from College of Engineering Senator Gage Driscoll and two “nos” from Senators Hernandez and Perez.
Purple Heart University
Senate approved Rocque Perez’s resolution to make UA a Purple Heart University.
The designation would recognize the school’s veteran population, the school’s purple heart recipients and highlight what resources are available to veterans, according to Perez.
Perez also wanted to request funding to create a purple heart parking spot.
“I wanted to introduce a budget for that $1,026,” Perez said. “The idea is that, historically, other universities that have been designated Purple Heart Universities have had purple heart parking spots for those who have disabilities or anything like that.”
The proposed budget was approved along with the designation resolution.
ASUA Budget
ASUA did not hold an appropriations meeting this week.
The senate has $15,649 left in their budget. Last week, there was $115,000 left in the appropriations budget.
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