ASWSU passed 12 bills during Wednesday’s meeting in preparation for the 54th Senate transition.
Denver Mickali, a senior on the pre-law track who was barred from attending Coug Lobbying Day earlier in the semester, gave public testimony to speak against bill 53-46, which suggested changes to the ASWSU bylaws that would allow the Department of Legislative Affairs to determine which students are permitted to attend Coug Day based on certain criteria.
Mickali said that he knows some of the senators have sympathy for him and believe that he was wronged when he was banned from Coug Day.
“Unfortunately, the bill proposed today will outline the exact procedure that was used to bar me from Coug Day and put into law,” he said.
Mickali said he believes adopting the bill into the bylaws will further empower those who already hold the most power in ASWSU to exercise their influence over people while preventing students from being able to attend opportunities they are entitled to.
“I understand that this is a learning environment,” Mickali said. “This is about improving ourselves. This is somewhere we should be able to develop our character and create second chances.”
When he was barred from attending Coug Day, Mickali said his record was not considered at all. Prior to the event, Mickali had been awarded senior of the year for the political science department, had prepared for the event for months on end through his attendance of meetings, and had not committed any other code of conduct violations.
“I ask you all to vote no on this proposal today,” he said. “We can do better.”
After deliberation by the senators, bill 53-46 was unanimously approved, as well as all other bills that were on the Senate floor.
In addition, 12 other bills were passed. The rest of the bills suggested changes to the wording of bylaws, duty descriptions for certain roles, updates to the names of various committees, positions and departments and minor law changes.
Most notably, Bill 53-37 suggested changes to the bylaws regarding the budget hearing process and Bill 53-41 removed a law that forbade individuals from wearing their campaign paraphernalia at athletic events on campus.
Health and safety director Bryce Becker proposed a tech fee vote that would provide every WSU student on the Pullman campus with access to Adobe Creative Cloud. The initiative would charge the university $6.45 per student, annually.
This would not require a tech fee increase, but rather a change in the fee allocation, he said. The fee allocation was approved unanimously.
Sydney Ueda, Asian Pacific American Student Coalition chair, said they held recent event collaborations this month to celebrate Asian-Pacific Heritage Month as well as the new cabinet for next year.
Sophie Kirov, University Affairs department director and deputy sustainability director Kassandra Vogel provided senators with progress updates on recent and upcoming events, such as Pizza for the Planet and the Move-Out Pitch-In donation program.
MOPI is an initiative in the residence halls put on by the Center for Civic Engagement in cooperation with other organizations on campus to collect donations from students of their gently used items to be donated to the Whitman County Humane Society, The Hope Center and Family Promise of the Palouse. MOPI will begin on April 25 and will go on until May 4.
ASWSU meets at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday in CUB 204.
