By Shawn Ness | February 19, 2024
Senator Dylan Klein during his debate point.
Photo Credit: Shawn Ness / The ASP
After last week’s Student Association (SA) meeting ended in a debate about if the Rules and Administration Committee drew too hard a line in the sand, this week’s meeting ended in the unanimous consent (UC) of Senator Dylan Klein’s appointment to lead the committee.
The same people who voted against Rules’ chair suggestions all agreed to the measure in a night that included little debate despite last meeting’s concerns.
Senate Chair Erin McGrath sponsored the official bill, though she was not present at the meeting. This contrasts to the previous meetings and appointments in the past for Klein. McGrath has looked over him three times to chair the committee in the past and gave pushback to the committee’s suggestions last week citing that she did not see the bill until a few minutes before the meeting started at 8 p.m.
“We feel that he would do a fine job. He’s really gotten better on his leadership, and we feel that he would be a great fit for the position,” Senator Vice Chair Sarah Jamil said.
Klein quipped that he would not be resigning any time soon.
Continuing the pattern of unanimous consent, the entire body unanimously agreed to impeach Senator Andrew Ong-Garcia, due to a “neglect of duty,” the bill reads.
Ong-Garcia has not attended any meetings during the 2024 session, and only one during the fall 2023 session, during which he left early and was not present during closing roll calls. This is the second time SA has tried to impeach Ong-Garcia for not attending meetings. Bylaw 201.1.2.3 states that Senators are only permitted to miss four meetings per semester.
Klein proposed a motion to begin the Senator’s impeachment trial within the next two weeks.
“... In addition to not showing up to the Senate, he has not shown up to a committee meeting this entire semester. From what I gathered [Ong-Garcia] only showed up to one last semester,” Klein said.
Senator Gabriel Kitt joked during his debate point saying “Let's impeach this bingo bongo.”
The rest of the legislative agenda was chock-full of appointment requests. Nayeka Edmond was confirmed by UC as the Director of Gender and Sexuality Services, Tahj Arnold was confirmed by UC as the Director of Civic and Community Engagement, and Luther Kohout was confirmed by UC as the Chair of the Appropriations Committee.
Many appropriations-related bills were on the legislative agenda as well. The Anti-electronic Voting Systems Act, removed the requirement for appropriations bills exceeding $1,000 to be approved unanimously or on an electronic voting system. It was passed by unanimous consent.
Another bill was the No Representative for Penny Allocations Act, which would make new and unfunded requests for under $1 are exempt from bylaw 208.5.8 which states that a committee representative advocates for the funding before the body, which as of late has not been happening despite the requests being approved. As two semesters of new and unfunded requests are required to be eligible for a budget, many clubs request a penny to keep this process going.
“I think that if you’re in a [student] organization, and you want to be a part of the budget process and get money from us, you should show up here,” Vice President Amelia Crawford said.
Board of Finance Chair Shania Blair defended those students who were already a part of the budget process and have come to the necessary Board of Finance meetings – that they should not have to come to a senate meeting to “beg” for a penny.