Orientation was the name of the game in Wednesday’s Associated Student Government meeting, the first of the 2025-2026 academic year.
ASG Senate’s first order of business was to swear in the new batch of senators who were elected Monday. New inductees were shown a “housekeeping” checklist, which consisted of guidelines and expectations for their tenure.
New to the mix this year is a raffle incentive program, announced and created by Weinberg senior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez to boost attendance participation at ASG Senate meetings. ASG senators can receive raffle tickets by doing anything from co-authoring legislation to receiving perfect attendance, which puts them in the running for a prize of $50 at the end of the quarter.
“One thing that’s hard for all senators to adjust to is feeling fulfilled in what they’re doing,” Salgado-Alvarez said. “I want (senators) to be able to finish small goals. Those goals are represented by the tickets.”
Just for being at the meeting, each senator received their first raffle ticket.
Near the end of the meeting, former and new senators broke out into icebreaker groups, where they were tasked with coming up with an entertaining introduction to present to the rest of the Senate. Performances ranged from a musical intro backed by Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” to a short theatrical skit.
Salgado-Alvarez and SESP sophomore and ASG Parliamentarian JJ Nabors-Moore rounded out the meeting by letting senators know of the open seats in ASG’s Rules Committee, with three school senator and two student organization senator spots vacant. Committee appointments are set to take place at next week’s meeting.
“Rules Committee is great for people looking to go into the law field and even people who aren’t,” Nabors-Moore said. “These rules and things that we pass will affect this government for years to come.”
Nabors-Moore added that laws passed in previous years still come up in more recent ASG meetings.
They also announced noteworthy dates including this quarter’s deadline for new legislation, Oct. 24, and Funding Senate, where they allocate money for student groups which will tentatively take place on Nov. 12.
Weinberg junior Christina Feng, who represents Active Minds, has been a part of ASG since Winter Quarter 2025. Feng hopes to get more involved in legislation this year.
“I know there’s been a lot of talk about reforming CAPS, but I don’t think anything has actually come out of that, so hopefully more pushing for that and also making students more aware of the mental health resources on campus,” Feng said.
SESP freshman and Senator Jonathan Curbelo said he wants to co-author many pieces of legislation that involve campus life and specifically aims to focus on issues relating to financial aid.
“I’m really excited to be a part of the student government,” Curbelo said. “I really appreciate everyone who voted for me, and I think it’s really going to be exciting to see all the new legislation that we can do this quarter.”
Email: [email protected]
X: @migtsang
Email: [email protected]
X: @catebouvet
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