The Associated Students of Colorado State University convened Oct. 14 for the 10th session of the 56th Senate.
Following the swearing in of new senators and associate senators, ASCSU Associate Director of Marketing and Digital Media Noah Kauffman was ratified before the senate.
To start off gallery input, ASCSU President Victoria Quesada-Stoner spoke on the many events that have taken place on campus in recent weeks, which she said “deserve further scrutiny.”
“The fall semester has been challenging a myriad of ways, including what happened Monday,” Quesada-Stoner said in reference to the Oct. 12 shooting near CSU’s Microbiology Building. “A gun was fired on campus in a country that is known for school shootings, and no matter the context, we deserve to know the details of the incident in a timely manner.”
Quesada-Stoner also gave a call to action for CSU students to be more kind. The ASCSU president said she wished to be held accountable by her constituents and requested for more constructive and well-articulated feedback.
Another speaker for gallery input was College of Liberal Arts Senator Cameron Gradiz Adorno, who also brought attention to the way CSU communicated the recent shooting.
“The alert that (CSU) took 15 minutes to put out had virtually no information about the incident, all it said was to avoid the area due to police activity,” Gradiz Adorno said. “The update on the alert issued an astonishing 49 minutes later only said that the area is clear, but police activity will remain in the area.”
CSU doctoral candidate Camden Fahnline spoke during gallery input to highlight the need for more transparency from CSU on financial details and promoted a petition that calls for more communication from the university on their financial activities.
“Universities across the country, including CSU, despite being public institutions, have increasingly acted like private firms, … putting investment into destructive fossil fuel and war industries and giving even bigger pay raises for admins while cutting services for students,” Fahnline said.
Following campus community reports, Senate moved into old business.
The first bill was Bill #5610, “Funding the Lavender Cabinet,” written by Senators of the Pride Resource Center Blake Simpson and BrookeLyn Reese.
This bill will allocate $14,000 from the ASCSU Senate Discretionary Fund to the CSU Pride Resource Center’s Lavender Cabinet, which supplies free access to basic needs items such as personal hygiene, sexual-health and gender-affirming products. The funding will last until the Fall 2028 Semester. Bill#5610 was passed via unanimous consent.
Next up for old business was two pieces of legislation written by Jack Pendleton, chair of the Internal Affairs Committee and associate senator for the Pride Resource Center.
Pendleton’s Resolution #5611, “A Resolution to Endorse the ‘NO’ Position on Propositions 134 and 135 in the 2026 Colorado General Election,” passed via oral vote.
Next month, Proposition 135 will ask Colorado voters to decide whether the state government should prohibit minors from receiving gender-affirming surgery and also prohibit the use of government funds and health insurance to fund the surgeries. Proposition 134 will ask Colorado voters to decide if all educational institutions should be required to enforce policies characterizing participation in sports by assigned sex at birth instead of gender.
The next resolution written by Pendleton was Resolution #5612, “A Resolution to endorse the ‘NO’ position on Amendment 81 in the 2026 Colorado General Election.” The resolution also passed via oral vote.
If passed in November, Amendment 81 would require state and local law enforcement in Colorado to notify U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if an individual with certain immigration statuses is charged with a crime of violence.
For new business, Resolution #5614, “In Solidarity with Jane Doe and Survivors of Sexual Violence — A Call for Transparency and Accountability in Higher Education and Recognition of Coalition,” was presented to senate.
“This legislation is essentially just establishing ASCSU support for Jane Doe, standing with survivors … and condemning the negligence of Cornell University and systemic culture in higher education,” Reese said.
The resolution was sent to the University Affairs and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Affairs Committees for further review.
During her executive report, Victoria Quesada-Stoner informed senate that moving forward, the executive branch would have conversations with CSU Senior Associate Vice President for University Operations Marc Barker on issues such as the Oct. 12 shooting incident and the Oct. 1 ICE agent sighting on campus.
Senate then continued with reports from all the other branches and committees.
ASCSU will reconvene Oct. 21.
Reach Katya Arzubi at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
