ASUCD Senate

Spring 2005 Senate.

The ASUCD Senate contains 12 senators that manage a 10.7 million dollar budget. Senate meetings are open to the public, and held every Thursday during the school year, in the Mee Room (3rd floor Memorial Union) starting at 6:10pm. Minutes of each meeting are typically available in SGAO (also 3rd floor Memorial Union).

As for elections, all undergraduate students at UCD can vote for anyone they want. In addition to independent candidates, there are "slates" here at UC Davis — akin to political parties. Slates with current officials are:

See Senate History for historical information, or see Slates for newly formed, inactive, or past slates that do not currently have elected officials.

Presiding Officer: ASUCD Vice President Previn Witana

* Senate President pro tempore

Commission Chairs are ex-officio members of the senate and senators are ex-officio members of commissions.

The Senate is responsible for voting on and creating bills and orders that say how ASUCD should operate. Being a Senator is a very important job because of the sheer size of ASUCD. Also, ASUCD Senators and other executives are often invited, through the University, to various important social and political functions. An example of this is the summer 2005 function "Perspectives on Poverty", which featured Colin Powell, John Edwards, and John Ashcroft.

A past senate seems to have had a bit of an attendance problem. This led 4 past senators to write a letter to the editor in the Aggie.

Senators also hire Senate Interns, who serve as volunteer assistants. Despite the fact that these are always advertised in elections as qualifications, they are typically sinecure offices.

Currently, 6 seats are held by L.E.A.D., 4 seats by JAM, and 2 seats by Independents. In the case of a 6-6 tie, the ASUCD Vice President, who is currently an Independent, casts the tie-breaking vote. LEAD has maintained a plurality on the Senate since 2005. LEAD senators don't always vote party lines. L.E.A.D. gained three more seats, retaining their voting power further in the Winter 2010 ASUCD Election. Previn Witana, who recently termed out as a senator, will replace Chris Dietrich as the next Vice President soon, giving LEAD a tie-breaking vote, if necessary.

Any piece of legislation requesting a financial allocation that comes before the ASUCD Senate must have a two thirds (2/3) majority vote. No slate has even a majority, though slates do not always vote as a bloc.

In order to truly understand the Senate, you'll want to look into Senate History.

ASUCD's legislative body wasn't always so contentious.

The ASUCD Senate has generated some interesting scandals recently. These include:

• Chad Roberts graduating and finishing his term without actually doing anything. http://theaggie.org/article/1990
  

• The Fall 2005 ASUCD Election/Unqualified Candidates Scandal - ineligibility of elected candidates
  

• The ASUCD Senator Ackerman Scandal - theft of books by a senator
  

• Lamargate - IRS investigation of illegal endorsement of political candidates
  

• Fall '04:
  

• Campaigning in Dorms Controversy - Campaigning in dorms by Student Focus
  

• Elections Committee modifying candidates' statements.
  

• Rob Roy's Disqualification Controversy - Winter 2005 Senate Candidate Rob Roy was disqualified by the Elections Committee due to not turning in all receipts for his campaign.
  

• It is documented that members of the ASUCD Senate have been routinely invited to join the ranks of the secretive organization known as Sword and Sandals.
  

• It is rumored that Senators smoked marijuana during the 2004 Budget Hearings. Original Daviswiki Source Amusing ED Article
  

• In 2006, Senator Steve Ostrowski was fired, by unanimous vote, after attempting to coerce the ASUCD Recorder into editing the minutes of a meeting.

The original Scandal Meter, Fall 2005 The Elections Committee is responsible for elections matters. The Senate is elected using the Choice Voting method.

• Former ASUCD Elections Committee Chair, Jonathon Leathers, provides all of the ballot data for Senate and Presidential Elections since Fall 2003 as well as a couple of programs to run the election data. With this data you can rerun as many fantasy elections as you like or simply verify the election results for yourself. The Davis College Green Party formerly provided this information on their website but Leathers consolidated the information and gave it a separate home.

See ASUCD Elections for more in-depth information on past elections.