ASUCD

The Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD) is a term describing the undergraduate student government at UCD. All undergraduate students are dues-paying members of ASUCD, grad students can also elect to join but rarely do. Unlike all other UC student governments, ASUCD is not affiliated with The University of California Student Association (UCSA). ASUCD officially disaffiliated from UCSA on November 2nd, 2006.

Most often, the phrase "ASUCD" is used to describe the governing body of ASUCD. Similar to the US government, ASUCD has an Executive, a Legislative, and a Judicial branch. The association's $10.5 million dollar operational budget funds a host of student services such as Unitrans, KDVS, the Coffee House, Campus Copies and Classical Notes, the Bike Barn, and the Experimental College. A fundamental characteristic of ASUCD is that it is primarily student managed and staffed, employing an upwards of 1,500 students. ASUCD offers opportunities to engage in leadership activities that range from student advocacy to management and finance and to event planning. Senate meetings are open to the public, and held every Thursday during the school year, in the Mee Room (3^rd floor Memorial Union) starting at 6:00pm.

ASUCD is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization. Their tax-exempt status got them in a bit of trouble in 2004 due to candidate endorsements (see Lamargate).

ASUCD has an official website with more information than anyone ever bothers to read, including the ASUCD Constitution, from which some of the following information is robbed.

Executive Legislative Senate Commissions ASUCD Outreach Assembly Committees Former Committees Judicial Bureaucracy - Student Services and Student Government Administrative Office ASUCD Units ASUCD Services Other ASUCD Topics History Disbanded ASUCD Units No longer part of ASUCD

Executive

The current sitting President (2008-09) is Ivan Carrillo.

• The President, as the chief executive officer of ASUCD, oversees all ASUCD units. He has the option to sign or veto all legislation passed by the ASUCD Senate.
  

• Advocacy Units are directly under the executive, and include among others Pathfinder and the ASUCD Office of External Affairs.
  

• The ASUCD President does not have the ability to introduce legislation, except for the annual budget. He is also responsible for appointing the directors of all ASUCD units except for the The California Aggie and KDVS, which are appointed by the Campus Media Board.

The current sitting Vice President is Molly Fluet.

• The Vice President is elected with the President and serves as the presiding officer over all ASUCD Senate meetings. She is also the legal successor to the ASUCD Presidency.

The current sitting Controller is Paul Harms.

• The President is in charge of appointing an ASUCD Controller, who must be confirmed by two-thirds of the Senate. The Controller is the Chief Operations Officer of ASUCD, and oversees business units along with the Business Manager. The official duties of the controller are: "work[ing] on all phases of management planning, budgeting, implementation, and evaluating. In addition, they monitor the expenses of all AS activities."

ASUCD has three units which deal with external issues. The director of the ASUCD City/County Affairs Office is Steven D. Lee. The director of the ASUCD University Affairs Office is Matt Shannon. The director of Lobby Corps is Derick Lennox. (Unlike other schools, there is no ASUCD External Vice President.)

The ASUCD President and Vice President are elected together during the 7^th Week of Winter Quarter each year using Instant Runoff Voting, for a term of one year. To be eligible for the ASUCD Presidency, one must have completed 60 units (not necessarily at Davis) and have been a registered UC Davis student for at least two quarters prior to election.

The Executive Office of the ASUCD President and the ASUCD Cabinet provides assistance and counsel to the ASUCD President.

Legislative

Senate

There are 12 seats on the ASUCD Senate. They are elected six at a time during the 7th Week of Fall Quarter and the 7th Week of Winter Quarter using Choice Voting. Many of the Senators are most visible as candidates (often in slates), but spend most of the year writing and reviewing legislation. Senators may additionally tackle any kind of goal, from fighting racial discrimination to getting staplers in the computer labs — the fact that they are Senators opens many doors in the UCD Administration and the City of Davis that ordinarily would be hard to access. There is an ASUCD Senate Office that serves as a working place for Senators.

Commissions

Commissions play an integral role in the ASUCD Senate. Some are programmatic, and do outreach activities, but all of them help in crafting legislation at least occasionally. There are seven of them, vaguely described in the Constitution as follows:

1. Academic Affairs Commission - Recommends to ASUCD programs and policies in Academic Affairs areas. Disseminates information concerning the student development of courses and curriculum. They honor teachers that go above and beyond each year. Meeting Times: Monday at 7:00 in the Fielder Room of the MU.
   

2. Internal Affairs Commission - Investigates and recommends improvements in areas and services which affect the quality of student life. Orchestrates administrative plans for all ASUCD units and reviews legislation for anything internal, i.e. delegating campus affairs. Meeting Times: Monday at 5:00 in the Garrison Room of the MU.
   

3. Business and Finance Commission - Formally advises Senate on fiscal concerns and financial allocations. Meeting Times: Tuesday at 6:10 in the ASUCD Conference room of the MU
   

4. External Affairs Commission - Acts as liaison with off-campus bodies which affect students. Works with Executive office and Senate to recommend action for city, county and national affairs. Meeting Times: Tuesday at 5:00 in the Garrison Room of the MU.
   

5. Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission - Programmatic commission that holds Diversity Days every Fall. Acts as Liaison with off-campus bodies affecting ethnic groups. Investigates and recommends policies regarding ethnic community issues. Meeting Times: Monday at 7:30 in the Garrison Room of the MU.
   

6. Environmental Policy and Planning Commission - Researches environmental issues and recommends improvements regarding them. Performs environmental assessment of ASUCD units. Meeting Times: Tuesdays at 7:30 in the Garrison Room of the MU.
   

7. Gender and Sexuality Commission - Programmatic commission that promotes awareness of issues regarding gender, sexuality, sex and sexual assault through educational workshops, panels and keynote speakers. Plans Generation Sex Week and the Western Regional LGBT Conference with the LGBTRC. Meeting Times: Tuesday at 4:30 in the Fielder Room on the 2nd floor of the MU.
   

• Commission chairs act as non-voting members of the senate, though all legislation not marked as "urgent" must be analyzed by a commission before being put up for vote.

Internal Affairs, Academic Affairs, Business and Finance, and External Affairs have been parts of ASUCD since at least 1981 (detailed in the ASUCD Constitution, as amended January 1981). Interestingly enough, IAC at that time was ASUCD's most programmatic commission.

ASUCD Outreach Assembly

The ASUCD Outreach Assembly's goal is to foster collaborative student activities, as well as inform the student body of ASUCD and student organization activities. The Outreach Assembly will also plan quarterly leadership summits. The Assembly consists of 12 paid positions, each of which outreaches to a specific areas of student life, and a chair.

The current Speaker is Amina Foda.

Committees

Committees are similar to commissions, but are smaller and fulfill specialized roles. The real legislative distinction is that they make informal recommendations to Senate, as opposed to the official recommendation of the commissions.
An organizational chart of ASUCD may help you understand the system. Or not. General Purpose Committees — seeking student participation:

• The Elections Committee has been the most prominent recently, due to recent controversy. They serve primarily during the election seasons in Fall and Winter Quarters.
  

• Created in 2006, the Science and Engineering Committee intends to outreach to science students who typically don't participate in ASUCD, while also bringing science oriented events to campus for everyone.
  

• Created in 2006, the Committee on Student Music and Performing Arts was meant to better connect students to entertainment opportunities on campus. This committee no longer exists due to a sunset clause.
  

• Created in 2005 the Student-Police Relations Committee, made a permanent committee in 2006, takes student concerns about the UCDPD and DPD to the city's Police-Student Relations Sub-Committee. They also lobby for reforms in the police department.
  

• ASUCD Textbook Affordability Committee

Internal Committees — these are committees of ASUCD officers that only meet for specific reasons:

• The Internet and Networking Committee serves to coordinate ASUCD information technology staff and the government. This committee is chaired by the ASUCD Controller.
  

• The Unit Relocation and Space Allocation Committee (URSAC), created by ASUCD Controller Devin Whitney in 2006, is designed to move units around more smoothly than what happened in the AS PAPERs fiasco. This committee is chaired by the ASUCD Controller.

The ASUCD Senate may from time to time make Special Committees, which only last a year or less. Some of the successful ones may also become permanent committees. Current Special Committees:

• Special Committee on Renovation (of the Coffee House). These people will decide the final plans for the CoHo renovation coming next around Summer 2009. This committee is chaired by the ASUCD Controller.

Former Committees

Judicial

• According to the ASUCD Constitution, the judicial authority of the ASUCD is vested in the ASUCD Court and Student Judicial Affairs/Campus Judicial Board.
  

• The ASUCD Court is in charge of interpreting the ASUCD Constitution and other fun legal-type documents.
  

• There are nine members on the ASUCD Court, each of which is appointed by the ASUCD President and approved by a majority of the Senate when a vacancy arises. Court members serve terms as long as their membership in ASUCD (remember that this means "as long as they're an undergraduate"), up to a maximum of four years.
  

• Current sitting Court Chief Justice is Tim Coady.
  

• The Campus Judicial Board's role within ASUCD is to hold jurisdiction over ASUCD candidates reported by the Elections Committee to have violated University regulations or committed a "serious and wanton breach of public trust." Also, The CJB has appellant power over the Elections Committee in cases of candidates having allegedly forfeited their "eligibility of office." The CJB's powers are limited to these two situations after being constitutionally restricted from past powers.
  

• There are twelve members of the CJB, each are appointed by the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, serving one year terms for SJA and ASUCD.
  

• Members of the ASUCD Court have clear titles but CJB members within the context of ASUCD do not. Under loose constructionist interpretation of the ASUCD Constitution, CJB members can interpretively be known as "Vested Judicial Authorities of ASUCD." This does not imply superiority over the Court.
  

• Current Co-chairs of the Campus Judicial Board are Anna Bokides and Mark Waylonis.

Bureaucracy - Student Services and Student Government Administrative Office

• Business Manager is Mark Champagne. He is the top of the University (unionized) employee hierarchy within ASUCD.
  

• Student Services is best known as the source of paychecks for Coffee House and other ASUCD employees. They do all the human resources and other office work for the "commercial units".
  

• Student Government Advisor is Michael Tucker (formerly Eric Sanchez, Vicki Swett).
  

• Student Gov't Administrative Office (SGAO, though invariably pronounced as "SJAO") is the civil service of the ASUCD government - they perform government bureaucratic necessities
  

• Government Documents are available at the Student Government Administrative Office (SGAO), or (in a probably outdated and incomplete form) online

ASUCD Units

Blue rows are self-sufficient units. Red rows are subsidized units. See the ASUCD Budget for more information.

1. The Bike Barn is considered a break-even unit although they do not have their own reserves so they are occasionallly subsidized by the senate (such as with the Bike Barn's computer system). In FY2006-07 they were the most profitable ASUCD unit.
   

2. Unitrans is Considered to have a break-even budget because it is subsidized by Undergraduate Student Fees and TAPS. It is as if all ASUCD members bought bus passes.

ASUCD Services

• There are Legal Services available. Every undergraduate gets 15 minutes per quarter of time with a lawyer. Its just enough time to discover if you have a case or not. Contact the Student Services Office and they will put you in contact with the lawyer.

Other ASUCD Topics

• ASUCD Elections - Past and current election information
  

• ASUCD Open Government - this page currently mainly discusses the lack of openness in ASUCD. See below.
  

• ASUCD Perestroika - this is a current wiki project to make current reform bills in ASUCD available to the public by posting them here.
  

• ASUCD Website - this page currently details several complaints about the failures of ASUCD.ucdavis.edu
  

• ASUCD Wish List - list of changes that have been requested

History

ASUCD was originally established on December 10, 1910 as the Associated Students of the University Farm (A.S.U.F.) to provide more activities for students on campus. Through 1909 and 1910, the only student organization had been an athletic association; A.S.U.F. took on the role of athletics and managed all other student activites, such as Picnic Day and fraternities. On January 12, 1914, ASUF opened the Student's Co-Operative Store, later known as the Coop Store, which evolved into the UCD Bookstore. Around 1925, the ASUF was renamed the Associated Student of the College of Agriculture (A.S.C.A.). The leadership body of A.S.C.A. (and A.S.U.F. before it) was the Executive Committee. Students had to buy A.S.C.A. cards to become a member — membership included privileges such as free admission to athletic games, a discount at the Coop, and a subscription to The California Aggie. The first mandatory fee was introduced in Spring semester of 1935; now all students were represented by the A.S.C.A. When Davis was designated as a general campus the association became known as ASUCD. ASUCD has gone through several leadership bodies, including: the Executive Committee, the Legislative Assembly, Senate, Executive Council, and finally a Senate today in its current incarnation.

From 1960 to 2000 there was a committee for ASUCD Student Forums.

See also ASUCD Superlatives for a list of youngest, oldest, longest serving, etc.

Disbanded ASUCD Units

These portions of the student government no longer exist, but are preserved for posterity. The institutional memory in student governments can be far too short, so learn about the old days here.

• El Rodeo
  

• Turbulence
  

• ASUCD Campus Safety
  

• Health and Wellbeing Committee
  

• ASUCD Student Advocacy Office
  

• ASUCD State and National Affairs Office
  

• Campus Lobby
  

• ASUCD Office of External Affairs
  

• Soda Fountain
  

• ASUCD Student Forums
  

• ASUCD Committee on Student Music and Performing Arts
  

• Campus Affairs Office
  

• Academic Affairs Office
  

• Council Travel/AS Travel — now operated by contract with STA Travel
  

• Public Relations Office
  

• ASUCD Campus Outreach and Organizing Office
  

• Vigilance Committee
  

• Welfare Council
  

• Public Opinion Polls

No longer part of ASUCD

• UCD Bookstore — given to the University, under Chancellor Mrak, to manage in 1966. By the early 80's, when ASUCD sued to regain management rights, the administration had firm control over the Bookstore. ASUCD was pressured to not only drop the lawsuit but sign a Memorandum of Understanding stating that ASUCD would never again make a claim to Bookstore ownership.
  

• Black Repetory
  

• Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! in the early 1980's.
  

• Ballet Folklorico, now known as Danzantes del Alma
  

• Homecoming (run by Aggie Pack)
  

• The House was partially funded by ASUCD

There's also some good information on Senate History.

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Portions adopted/info from official ASUCD site.