AS Executive Board update graphic PJ Heusted // AS Review
By PJ Heusted
The Associated Students Executive Board met on Friday, Jan. 8 for their eleventh meeting of the 2020-21 academic year.
Black Student Organizations Demand Updates
VP for Diversity Ranulfo Molina shared that the AS is actively hiring to fill the three new BSO Coalition Development Specialist positions. Hiring began at the start of winter break with emails and resources sent out by AS staff to support students interested in applying and the application period closed on Jan. 10.
VP for Student Services Carson Brock shared updates about the creation of a work group to involve students in the Black Affinity Housing program being created in the new dorm, Glass Hall, being constructed to replace Higginson Hall.
Executive Director of Student Engagement Eric Alexander shared that the Capital Planning and Development department reported positive progress in the development of a Black Student Space in the Viking Union.
Western Lobby Day Agenda
VP for Governmental Affairs Nicole Ballard shared the finalized Western Lobby Day Agenda.
Ballard edited elements of the specific requests that lobbyists would be presenting to the legislators, including removing the Native American Tuition Assistance program ask, adding support for HB 1028 that would remove the EdTPA requirement to receive teaching certification, adding support for a tax exemption program for electric cars, rewriting the funding needs for the health and wellness programs on campus due to a misunderstanding in the original ask, adding support for HB 1009 to include abortions in medical programs for students, including more language for support for survivors of interpersonal violence, adding language that reflects the work that the Native American Student Union [NASU] does, adding specific mention of funding for an ethnic studies program, increasing the funding to go towards scholarships for BIPOC, adding support for Washington Application for State Financial Aid [WASFA] to include COVID-19 relief funds, adding support for HB 1893 that extends Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs [SNAP] to include state universities, adding support for SB 5027 to mandate closed captions on public televisions, adding support for SB 5012 to increase funding for affordable housing, adding support for a tax on state lottery winnings, adding support for a tax on capital gains and adding support for the removal of some of the tax exemptions on real estate excise tax.
The finalized agenda passed with a friendly amendment to allow Ballard to continue to edit for grammar and clarification where it is needed with five votes in favor, zero against and zero abstaining.
Elections Code
AS Elections Coordinator Mario Alem spoke about the necessary changes to the AS Elections Code given the special election to fill the role of VP for Sustainability after Nora Harren’s resignation.
The changes will need to be finalized prior to the candidate meeting to ensure that all candidates receive the most up-to-date information prior to the campaign and election periods.
Alem’s planned changes include reflecting updates made prior to senate elections in the fall including reducing the petition signature requirement and removing the specific dates of elections from the code.
Alem additionally expressed a need to update the eligibility requirements to file for candidacy. Currently there is no language in the code that requires a candidate to be eligible to work in the United States whereas the packet that candidates receive after filing does include this requirement. This change would increase transparency in requirements and keep information consistent across documents.
Alem acknowledged that future changes will likely be made given the history of misinterpretation and conflict caused by the elections code. The code was a subject of conversation and controversy most recently during the elections for the 2020-21 Executive Board.
Alem plans to return to the next board meeting with more tracked changes to the document to review and shared that so far five students filed to run in the special election.
Proposal for an AS Anti-Racism Task Force
Molina proposed the idea of creating a task force within the AS where student leaders from each office could come together to work collectively to make the AS a more anti-racist organization.
This idea came from reflection on conversations during Winter Staff Development and looking for ways to better include white students in these conversations instead of them being limited to spaces intended for BIPOC.
Molina shared that this idea is currently in the preliminary phases of planning and development.