ASWSU Senators approve new member, resolution

Resolution will allow students to include preferred pronouns on class rosters, CougarCards

Samantha+Cruz%2C+director+of+legislative+affairs%2C+said+she+wants+to+require+free+menstrual+products+in+residence+hall+bathrooms.+

MEETING SCREENSHOT

Samantha Cruz, director of legislative affairs, said she wants to require free menstrual products in residence hall bathrooms.

MATT HOLM, Evergreen reporter

ASWSU senators unanimously voted to approve Jack Maloy, junior history major, as an education senator.

Maloy said his first goal as senator will be to monitor the arrest rate of Black people in Pullman. He also wants to monitor the civil rights action plan created by the WSU Police Department.

His second goal will be to improve representation for student athletes on campus, citing the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats program, which allows athletes to show support for disadvantaged or marginalized groups.

Maloy is currently the treasurer for ASWSU Give, a member of the ultimate frisbee team and men’s rowing team, as well as an employee at Southside Dining Hall.

Senators also voted unanimously to approve Resolution 50-01, which allows students to include their preferred pronouns on class rosters and on their CougarCards.

Currently, only 42 colleges in America allow students to indicate their preferred pronouns on class rosters, according to Campus Pride, a pro-LGBTQ+ non-profit.

Samantha Cruz, director of legislative affairs, said the first priority on their agenda is to amend WSU’s plagiarism policy in order to provide more leniency for unintentional plagiarism.

Other priorities include requiring free menstrual products in residence hall bathrooms, as well as requiring 100-level UCORE classes to adopt open-access textbooks. They will also propose restrictions on programs, such as TopHat and iClicker, which create additional fees for students.

Joel Aleman, director of university affairs, said he is working with WSU Vice Provost Mary Wack to establish requirements for remote classes. This includes deadlines for uploading syllabi to Canvas or Blackboard, as well as requiring at least one live lecture per week.

Many professors are uncertain of the current requirements for Zoom lectures and have been using exclusively pre-recorded lectures as a result. This goes against WSU’s policy of not allowing fully asynchronous classes, Aleman said.

Dylan Good, director of academic affairs, said he was approached by the Native American Women’s Association about hosting a workshop for student digital rights. 

Health director Patrick Johnson said WSU is able to operate a mass vaccine program if the US Food and Drug Administration approves one of the existing COVID-19 vaccines for widespread use.

WSU created a mass vaccination plan years ago, and the infrastructure for that plan still exists today, he said.

Alex Pan, director of community affairs, said 124 undergraduates participated in ASWSU and GPSA’s Restaurant Week. GPSA expressed interest in hosting another collaborative effort in the spring.