The Undergraduate Senate (UGS) unanimously approved a bill that established On Call as an ASSU Service Organization per Article VIII, Section 1 of the Joint By-Laws, granting the On Call Café privileges such as financial support to better serve the community.
The student-run organization held its first pop-up on Nov. 6, providing free food and drinks from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Haas Center. The cafe received widespread student demand and served over 1,000 students at its pop-ups. The organization plans to re-open in Old Union this winter.
“On Call Café is moving quickly to a for-profit model,” said UGS co-Chair Diego Kagurabadza ’25. “In the meantime, this designation offers potential financial support, among other things, should the student team need it.”
ASSU president Sophia Danielpour ’24 additionally discussed her meeting with interim President Richard Saller. Danielpour said they “discussed the successes of advocacy in the current year and requested administrative support for students as well as more student space in order to look for more student involvement in leadership searches.”
The meeting served as a pulse check on students and faculty, while alleviating tensions on campus by thinking about the community in a bigger sense, Danielpour said. Its goal was to find ways to provide students with the support they need while also providing them with spaces needed for community building. Overall, transparency and input from students is essential for the success of the community, she said.
Representatives from 5-SURE, the student-run free car service, also discussed potential proposals for an automated dispatch system and additional vans.
“Instead of just calling 5-SURE manually, there could be a third party system that can implement data that can improve” the process, said Senator Ivy Chen ’26.
The discussion later moved onto academic accommodations for student-athletes, as well as how to decrease the perception of preferential treatment for student-athletes over non-student-athletes. Kagurabadza shared insights from his meeting with Jeffrey Koseff, chair of the Committee on Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation.
“Some preliminary ideas include mandated excused-absence and late-work policies, priority course enrollment for student-athletes, alternative exam schedules and recorded lectures for students who are sick or off-campus,” Kagurabadza said.
Representatives of the ASSU met with co-presidents of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee on Nov. 30 about these ideas, in hopes of eventually passing a joint resolution to the Vice President of Undergraduate Education or Faculty Senate in the future.