PUBLIC COMMENT:
Director of ASUN asks Senate to recognize Associate Director
The 84th session of the Senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada opened their meeting last Wednesday with public comments from Sandra Rodriguez, Director for ASUN and the Center for Student Engagement.
Rodriguez stood before the body to commend the fact that they would soon hear legislation to create a civic engagement scholarship. She asked that if the senators passed the scholarship, they name it after Amy Koeckes, the Associate Director of the Center for Student Engagement.
Speaker Teixeira receives more questions on tweets
The second individual to speak up in the public comments section of the Senate meeting was Wayua Barrett, President of the Black Student Union. Barrett’s public comment was a question directed toward Speaker Noah Teixeira about several years-old tweets that had resurfaced earlier this month.
Barrett directed her question to Teixeira, saying she didn’t know him personally and would not call out his character.
“Those tweets and comments were made and it impacted several of my members negatively and I just want to know, I know you don’t have any intentions of stepping down which is totally fine, but how is that going to affect if you get elected, your position and how you relate to students that were hurt or affected by [the tweets]?” Barrett asked.
Teixeira responded by asking that the two speak privately about the matter because he wanted to stick to the senate’s agenda.
LEGISLATION:
Senate votes to support state Assembly Bill 1
The senate heard three pieces of legislation Wednesday night, beginning with a resolution to support Assembly Bill 1 of the 79th Session of the Nevada Legislature.
Assembly Bill 1 is an act requiring the board of regents of the University of Nevada to pay undergraduate fees and expenses of a dependent child of a public employee killed in the performance of his or her duties. If passed, Assembly Bill 1 would go into effect on July 1. The resolution passed with unanimous support from the senators.
Senators amend candidate debate format
The senators heard an amendment to change the timeline of general elections debates. Prior to the amendment, the President and Vice President debates must be held at least two days prior to the end of the general elections. The amendment would allow the elections chair to hold the debates at least five days prior to the commencement of the general election.
In the discussion of the bill, a few senators were concerned that having debates right before the weekend would not allow students to think about the debate and then vote a few days later.
Despite the lengthy conversation, the bill was sent back to the committee to be discussed at a later time.
