Conte, Zuniga sworn in as ASG president, vice president
Katherine Conte and Juan Zuniga. The two were sworn in Wednesday as ASG president and vice president.
May 6, 2020
Following their win in Saturday’s election, SESP junior Katherine Conte and Weinberg junior Juan Zuniga were sworn in as Associated Student Government president and vice president at ASG’s Wednesday Senate meeting.
After a short discussion of ASG’s COVID-19 response, the outgoing president and VP, SESP seniors Izzy Dobbel and Adam Davies, administered oaths of office and gave closing remarks.
Dobbel reflected on her time in ASG, thanking the people she worked with as well as the community she served. She emphasized her belief in the importance of ASG’s role in supporting marginalized groups.
“This work is not about you, it’s about the students,” Dobbel said. “We need to always be listening attentively about how we can be better.”
She also said she was proud of ASG’s accomplishments this year, listing the establishment of the Executive Office of Justice and Inclusion as well as the implementation of a pass-fail grade system for spring quarter.
Davies then shared the lessons they learned about leadership and activism in serving as vice president.
“None of us can be in charge of justice,” Davies said. “It’s something we all need to do together.”
Conte and Zuniga were quick to take action in their new roles. The Senate was asked to reconsider a previously passed amendment so that they could lower the number of positions on the executive board.
Changing that amendment allowed Conte and Zuniga to move forward with their next proposal to consolidate the Public Relations Committee and the Technology Committee into one Communications Committee, as well as dissolve the Community Relations Committee.
Conte said the two committees did not have enough to do separately and that committee chairs were “making up tasks” for members to complete. Combining them, she said, would increase the efficiency of ASG. The functions of the Community Relations Committee were better carried out by other organizations, Zuniga added. The proposal received the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.
ASG also discussed a resolution calling for faculty to conduct mid-quarter course evaluations and reviewed options for the renewal of the Executive Officer of Justice and Inclusion.
Political Union Senator and Weinberg Sophomore Elizabeth Sperti motioned to designate the resolution as “emergency,” stressing the importance of timely action if the evaluations are to take place toward the middle of the quarter. After being approved for emergency status, a vote was held and the legislation carried.
ASG then reviewed the Executive Officer of Justice and Inclusion code because of a sunset clause in the original legislation that established the position. SESP senator Daniel Rodriguez proposed allowing the code to lapse so that the EOJI would be selected by the typical executive selection. The motion was seconded and passed.
The Senate also selected five new members for the rules committee. SESP freshman Jenn Beardsley, SESP sophomore Natasha Vasan, and Weinberg freshman Gwen Cooke will serve for the next year. Weinberg sophomore Pamela Chen and Weinberg freshman Sohae Yang will serve until the end of Spring Quarter.
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