The Associated Students of Colorado State University convened Sep. 18 for the sixth session of the 54th senate.
Following the swearing-in of a new senator and several associates, Senator Olivia Friske made a statement calling on ASCSU to make a statement denouncing racism on campus.
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“It is not the job of Black students on our campus to have to educate everyone, so we need to be pioneers in that and put educational resources there,” Friske said.
Following Friske’s remarks, a presentation by a guest speaker from Culturs Magazine and executive, legislative and judicial reports, during which each branch provided updates on their respective work and initiatives, the ratification of the Student Fee Review Board took place.
SFRB oversees the allocation of over $50 million in student fees that fund 16 different areas on campus, including the Lory Student Center, the Campus Recreation Center and Student Legal Services.
Senate then discussed Resolution #5402, “Calling for an Establishment of a School of Law & Policy within the CSU System.”
The legislation calls on the CSU System to establish a task force or committee responsible for establishing an American Bar Association-accredited School of Law & Policy to “further the accessibility for students seeking a law degree within Colorado,” as well as build on current programs in the interim. There are currently only two other law schools in Colorado.
“If the CSU Board is able to set up law schools in each of its campuses, not only would it literally double the schools in Colorado, it would also welcome fields of law that are not currently covered by those two schools,” Sammy Trout, former chair-emeritus of the Accessibility Caucus and writer of the resolution said. “There are a lot of benefits to law schools being established here at CSU.”
The legislation will be sent to the University Affairs and Internal Affairs committees.
Senate next considered Lex #5408, “Bylaw Transparency Act.” The legislation would require all branches, committees and boards to post their bylaws on the ASCSU website and add them to the ASCSU archives.
Lex #5409, “Internship Transparency Act,” was also considered. The Lex codifies ASCSU Supreme Court Opinion #5102, requiring an executive branch intern to have job descriptions and interns to go through the senate ratification process.
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Moving into old business, senate passed Lex #5410, which would codify Supreme Court Opinion #5302, where the court unanimously ruled that the senate can amend the Referenda and Elections Code with the endorsement of the elections manager, only requiring a petition process if this process is bypassed.
The legislation will be sent to committee for further review.
Next, Lex #5401, “Creation of an ASCSU Public Relations Officer,” was decided. The lex will create and fund a public relations officer to specifically manage ASCSU senate marketing. The legislation passed by way of a majority vote.
Senate also passed lexes #5402, #5403, #5404, #5405, #5406. The lexes make multiple edits to the ASCSU Constitution, including typo corrections, removing an outdated position and adjusting the timing of the Vote of Confidence.
ASCSU Senate will resume Sept. 25.
Reach Laila Shekarchian at news@collegian.com or on Instagram @CSUCollegian.
