Tuesday Oct. 12, 2017
By Hailey Murphy
Queer Experience Targeted Event Proposal
The Queer Resource Center (QRC) requested permission for their event auditions be exclusively for queer and trans identifying students. All Associated Students events that are targeted towards a specific group must be approved by the AS Board.
Queer Experience is an annual event put on by the QRC. Each year, the QRC casts about 10 performers. They spend a month attending workshops with the rest of the cast. Then, they perform through a variety of mediums, drawing on their experiences from that month.
To help students claim their intersectional identities, the QRC believes the performers need to be queer. That way, they’ll create a space for intersectional identities not currently accessible on campus.
Additionally, QRC is making a change to the event. As opposed to a single culminating performance, there will be an exhibition held in the fine art building’s gallery. The gallery will feature paintings and drawings, as well as a varieties of performance art.
The last piece of the proposal was the casting call, requested to be on Nov. 30, 2017, with the experience taking place over winter quarter.
AS Consultant for Governmental Affairs Position Description
On Aug. 17, 2017, the AS Board of Directors passed a motion with majority to appoint Ana Ramirez as AS Consultant for Governmental Affairs, an unpaid position. They also passed a motion to create a subcommittee. The AS President would decide who to put on the committee and outline the committee positions.
Ramirez was elected as the ASVP for Governmental Affairs but has been prevented from assuming her position due to a lack of work authorization.
The Oct. 12 motion was a vote to approve the position description for AS Consultant for Governmental Affairs, so that Ramirez may begin consulting with the AS Board. The position description outlines that there’s no monetary compensation, and that only the seven members of the AS Board of Directors can vote. Therefore, the Consultant for Governmental Affairs does not have the power to vote.
The motion was put forth by Alex LaVallee, ASVP for Business & Operations. It passed with a majority vote, officially creating the new position.
Thursday Oct. 19, 2017
By Gwen Frost
The Oct. 19 AS Board meeting began at 8:14 am, offering a public forum in the morning where comments from the public section are given the floor. There were none this day from the public.
There was an approved a document for the AS Project Manager, as well as “A Resolution in Support of DACAmented Students.” This resolution listed an effort towards committing to offer more services to undocumented workers on campus, as well as declaring support for undocumented students currently enrolled at Western.
A proposal was discussed for a possible AS Board blog or a Facebook page to get the rest of campus to get to know the board, as well as a revamping of the AS website.
The Suicide Awareness Committee received funding from the counseling center to bring someone out to train facilitators to do suicide prevention on campus.
The alternate transportation committee is continuing to look for ways to provide transport. Ridership has dropped since the implementation of late-night shuttles, said Annie Gordon, VP for Student Life. When it’s late at night, it makes sense that people don’t want to utilize buses when it’s cold, solitary and possibly unsafe because of the time.
Now, there is an effort to install GPS on all late-night shuttles so students can download an app to locate the bus and see when (and where) it comes. Gordon said it was projected to be low-cost, and that they have possible funds in reserves for the project.
In discussing issuing a stance on Western’s gun policy (which is that guns are prohibited on campus except for law enforcement), the board decided to not issue a statement due to notions that either supporting gun policy, or supporting gun control and reform, could be a politicized and possibly partisan statement (the AS is a non-partisan organization but the AS Board can take political stances, if they are on behalf of students). The policy was not in question, but whether or not to pass a resolution reflecting a viewpoint.
Tobacco and nicotine products were discussed as a topic of contention, due to some students being at a health-risk due to the consistency and location of smoking spots on campus.
However, as AS President Simrun Chhabra pointed out, having a smoke-free campus would mean needing to take surrounding areas into consideration (like the arboretum as a place of risk of litter or fire). When considering students who don’t feel comfortable coming to campus due to legitimate health concerns, “what are we doing to stand with them?” asked Gordon.
There is already the statewide 25-foot distance law, enforced on all buildings that aren’t privately owned. In the 2014 general election, 56 percent of students voted for a smoke-free campus, and 44 percent voted against one. Only 8.8 percents of students voted (roughly 1,000 students). Also discussed, was the possibility of organizing a task-force of different opinions that could represent different interests on the subject. “We’re just getting started,” said Gordon.