In its Tuesday night meeting, the 18th Undergraduate Senate tabled the “Full House” bill and discussed a bill to set up a joint committee on sexual violence with the Graduate Student Council (GSC).
Senators also unanimously voted not to fund New York Times subscriptions for the University. An additional bill that took issue with the University administration for alleged disregard of the ASSU was proposed but removed from the agenda prior to the meeting.
“Full House” bill
The Senate discussed at length the “Full House Fund” bill that would, among other provisions, provide subsidies to low-income students who want to join clubs with fees. The bill was first proposed to the previous Senate and has since gone through various revisions.
Following an introduction by co-author of the “Full House” bill Kayla Guillory ’18, the senators focused in on a provision in the bill that mandates diversity training for groups that will receive funding.
Senator Hattie Gawande ’18 summarized the Senate’s concerns about the bill.
“To review what needs further exploration: One, the funding source of the bill itself …, two, the nature of the diversity training people have to undergo in order to obtain that funding, three, who will conduct that training and four, the size of the penalty for not completing it,” Gawande said.
Deputy Chair Mylan Gray ’19 maintained that the specific provision on diversity training belonged in a separate bill.
The Senate suggested that the Appropriations and Advocacy Committees meet to discuss the bill and that the leaders of those committees meet with the working group dedicated to the bill. The Senate plans to revisit the bill again next week.
Sexual assault bill
Another bill that would create an association joint committee on sexual assault was introduced and is currently being tabled so that students have the time and opportunity to address their questions, concerns or comments about the bill to the Senate.
In response to the ongoing campus debates surrounding sexual violence, the bill aims to coordinate the GSC and the Senate’s efforts to combat sexual violence by setting up a joint legislative committee.
Senate Chair Shanta Katipamula ’19 said that the bill should reach a vote next Tuesday.
If passed, the committee will be charged with meeting at least once a month to develop action plans for changes to the current Title IX reporting process, educate the ASSU on the status of sexual violence at Stanford and meet with the administration on the issue.
Other business
The Senate also chose to remove a bill that contained a list of criticisms of recent decisions made by the University administration, including the alleged disregard for student voices on the alcohol policy. Co-authors Katipamula and Cenobio Hernandez ’18 made the decision to remove the bill from the meeting’s agenda following a dinner with 12 University administrators.
“We had a very productive dinner conversation with Greg Boardman, the Vice Provost for Student Affairs,” Katipamula said. “We weren’t sure that maybe this was no longer the best way to move forward. These are still issues we really care about.”
Finally, the Senate rejected a bill to fund print New York Times copies due to funding concerns. The Senate also passed bills to confirm the University committee nominees and the Nominations Commission timeline. Senators also placed a bill that will budget their Standard Grant quotas on previous notice so that it will be voted on next week.
Contact Jordan Payne at jpayne1 ‘at’ stanford.edu.