The 18th Undergraduate Senate passed a bill on Tuesday night to create a joint legislative committee with the Graduate Student Council (GSC) on sexual violence. Pending ratification from the GSC, this committee will combine efforts amongst ASSU branches to analyze the current status of sexual violence at Stanford, represent student concerns to the administration and recommend changes to the Title IX reporting process.
The Senate also voted unanimously to fund the annual Mausoleum Party organized by the sophomore class officers. However, the request sparked debate on the allocation of funds for this event and the sustainability of current Senate spending.
Sexual Violence Committee
The Association Joint Legislative Committee on Sexual Violence bill passed unanimously during the 10th meeting of the Undergraduate Senate this year. The GSC will meet to vote on this bill on Oct. 19 before the committee officially forms, but Senators and administrators alike are expressing their enthusiasm for this effort.
Senate Chair Shanta Katipamula ’19 has high hopes for the committee.
“I think it’ll be great to have members from all three branches from the GSC, the Undergraduate Senate and Executive Committee in the room to talk about ways we can support each other in the area of prevention, education and reporting,” she said.
Katipamula believes that this committee will work to “present a united front across the entire student body” against sexual violence, and bridge the gap between administrative and student communication in regards to this issue.
The plans for the joint student committee comes after extensive discussion of sexual violence over the past year, including criticisms that the administration has not been transparent with students about sexual assault statistics.
Mausoleum Party
The Senate also approved a proposal from sophomore class president Lakshmi Prakash ’19 to allocate $19,400 toward the annual Mausoleum Party. Traditionally, the ASSU has contributed to the Mausoleum Party fund, but in recent years the cost of the event has risen, putting additional strain on the fall quarter budget.
With 54 percent of the budget for fall quarter already allocated, Senators were mainly concerned that the party would reduce funds available for worthy events and causes in future.
“The opportunity cost remains to be seen,” Katipamula said. “I’m not sure if it’s going to result in us being more stringent in what we fund this quarter, or if it is going to hit us hard at the end of the year.”
However, the Senate acknowledged that they had the ability to fund above their cap with a two-thirds majority vote if the need arose, or to spread the cost out over the course of the year.
Contact Ellie Bowen at ebowen ‘at’ stanford.edu.