Breanna Denney /Nevada Sagebrush
Members of the ASUN Senate listening to a presentation given by Danielle Clark, Math Center director, on Wednesday, August 27, 2014. Clark provided data for the Senators that explained the Math Center’s needs.

By Maddison Cervantes

The University of Nevada, Reno’s Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Senate held its first official meeting of the semester last Wednesday.
During the beginning of the meeting, Danielle Clark, Math Center director, requested for more funding for increased student usage and demand.

The Math Center, located on the first floor of the William J. Raggio Building, has experienced a 14 percent budget cut.
According to Clark’s charts and data, only 7 percent of their budget consists of allocatable funds such as supplies and operation costs that are necessary to run the Math Center.
Therefore, budget cuts have created extreme concerns.

Due to the minimized budget, the Math Center has been forced to ask for funding from the math and science departments in order to keep their doors open.

The Math Center has had to double its number of paid employees due to the fact there has been an increase in student demand for the facility.

They have no control over 90 percent of the budget, which consists of the funds allocated to paying their employees and for their space.

Clark expressed concern for the lack of ASUN response and representation at consequent meetings.
She then requested that ASUN respond to her concerns so that the factors that have led to these budget cuts can become more transparent.

Senator Nick Beaton’s letter of resignation from office was made public during the meeting.

Beaton recently received an offer for an internship with Nevada Athletics, and will no longer be a member of the ASUN Senate.
“As sports PR is something that I am not only passionate about, but also want to pursue as a career, I can’t turn it down,” Beaton said in his letter of resignation.

The Senate voted on a new committee Chair for Government Operations. The election was between Senators Ken Brooke and Marissa Crook.

Senator Brooke was elected into office by a unanimous vote. Three students were sworn into ASUN office.

Rachel Yelverton was elected the new policy analyst for the Department of Legislative Affairs.
Along with Yelverton, two new Justices, Sydney Nelson and Brian Barnes, were voted in.

A new legislation was touched upon during the meeting.

Legislation 82-19: An Act to Establish the Speakers Task Force on Association Outreach is focused on creating surveys to track the involvement of students throughout UNR, and then to compile a report to present to the ASUN Senate.

The Task Force’s goal is to create better outreach programs, and to focus that outreach on those who are not as involved or connected with ASUN.
Senators Gabriel Golez and Anthony Ramirez presented a resolution in support of 15 to Finish, a Nevada System of Higher Education initiative that encourages students to take 15 credits per semester or 30 credits per year.

Some students may lose their financial aid if they do not comply with the initiative. This motion was not carried through the Senate.

Maddison Cervantes can be reached at mcervantes@sagebrush.unr.edu.