By Kaitlyn Oliveros, May 10, 2022
ASI Board of Directors held its final virtual meeting of the semester on May 5, voting yes on the textbook and food justice resolutions.
Both resolutions were approved with a unanimous vote of 8-0 with a blanket motion set forth by the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, seconded by the Greek Council.
Drafting these solutions often starts with a recommendation by a student. This was the case for the textbook resolution. As for the food justice resolution, ASI Attorney General Mia Miller shared how the process of drafting that resolution came about.
“I have been passionate about the topic for a long time, so I felt that it was necessary to make a statement about food justice initiatives and how we can implement them on campus,” said Miller.
According to Miller, she is so passionate about food justice that she convinced Corwin Aragon, associate professor of the Philosophy Department, to teach an independent study course on food injustice. This course was taught in fall 2021.
As for the textbook resolution, Miller shared that Hailey Luckert, a CPP Affordable Learning Initiative student assistant, reached out to her via email to help her draft a resolution. The two were joined by ASI Vice President Derek Sweem and CLASS Senator Daniel Foncello.
The overall goal of passing the food justice resolution is that CPP begins educating students on food justice while also becoming leaders in sustainability and social justice issues.
As for the textbook resolution, the resolution encourages CPP professors to lower the costs of course materials and encourage students to participate in the buyback program.
With these resolutions being approved by ASI, it will start conversations within the next group of board of directors during the fall semester.
“I want to emphasize that even if the resolutions do not result in immediate and effective change, resolutions serve the important purpose of creating awareness of certain issues that affect the campus community,” said Miller. “Without such awareness, no change can be made.”
With this being the last virtual meeting of the semester, it was also Sweem’s last meeting as ASI vice president.
“It’s been a privilege to serve as ASI vice president and run these board meetings. I’m going to miss it,” said Sweem. “It’s been a privilege to work with such passionate student leaders being either in ASI Cabinet or the members of the board. I’m going to miss them, and I have complete confidence in the next administration’s ability to conduct board meetings and carry on business of organization.”
ASI President Prabhat Jammalamadaka was on an excused absence for the final meeting and was unavailable for comment.
The next ASI Board of Directors meeting, under the leadership of Aliza Ortega and Foncello will be held before the fall semester on June 30. For more information on previous ASI meetings, students can visit ASI’s website.
Featured image by Nicolas Hernandez
