AS Student Senate update graphic PJ Heusted // AS Review
By PJ Heusted
The Associated Students Student Senate met on Wednesday, Dec. 2 for their second meeting of the 2020-21 academic year.
Power, Liberation, Equity and Justice General University Requirements
Donna Qualley, chair of the Committee for Undergraduate Education, and Brooke Love, chair of the Academic Coordinating Commission presented a working draft of the proposed change to Comparative, Gender and Multicultural Studies, ACGM and BCGM, GUR requirements.
The PLEJ proposal centers the equity and justice goals of the university and combines them with power and liberation focuses to create courses that help students recognize the existence of social, economic and political power, how those forms of power are sustained and then gives students the ability to liberate themselves from those sources of power.
Currently CUE suggests a two-stage approach to the new GUR in having PLEJ-1 courses serve as a foundation to introduce concepts and theories that the PLEJ-2 courses would extend, deepend and apply to specific contexts and situations.
The PLEJ proposal is still being developed and members of CUE are developing a survey to be sent to students to get feedback. The survey will be sent out early in 2021.
2021 Western Lobby Day Agenda
VP for Governmental Affairs Nicole Ballard and Director of Legislative Affairs Jude Ahmed presented the agenda for Western Lobby Day.
The final agenda items include college affordability and student loan forgiveness, environmental justice, mental health and wellness, facilitating comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings, supporting survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, Coast Salish longhouse, Western Washington University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University and Evergreen’s $10 million equity funding ask, support and resources for undocumented students and DACA recipients, meeting basic needs and dedicating revenue.
For each item on the agenda, there is a statement explaining the item and a list of the specific asks of the AS.
Vice Chair Elections
Ankur Handa from the College of Business and Economics, Laura Wagner from the Huxley College of the Environment and Althea Frye from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences ran for the position of Vice Chair.
Each candidate spoke to the senate about why they would like to hold the position and, given time constraints in the meeting, an email vote was held to determine the winner.
Senate Pro-tempore Sargun Handa announced in an email to the senate, the AS Review and the Western Front that Wagner and Frye would serve as Co-vice Chairs.