Office Location
354 Memorial Union
Meeting Schedule

Mondays beginning 4:10 PM at the Mee Room, Memorial Union

Website
ASUCD Internal Affairs Commission
Organization
Associated Students, University of California, Davis

 

The Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) is a subordinate body of the ASUCD Senate. IAC reviews and recommends improvements to areas and services that affect the quality of student life. More specifically, IAC reviews and recommends changed to ASUCD Governing Docs such as the ASUCD Constitution and ASUCD Bylaws. As such, many of ASUCD's policy wonks get their start in IAC. Meetings are largely spent reviewing exciting stuff such as Bylaws, Long-Range Plans, and other "internal" matters. The Commission consists of nine voting members and up to four alternate members.

IAC has open meetings on Mondays at 4:10 PM in the MU Mee Room. The meetings are typically longer than that of any other ASUCD Commission, as they have so many bills to review. IAC is also mostly responsible for writing the Long-Range Plans for all ASUCD Units.

The Commission is comprised of hard-working people who work in the background, reviewing complicated legislation, but receive little credit for their labors. In the past IAC has held ASUCD legislation-writing clinics. #BylawsOrBust

Members

Commission Chair: ThuyAnh Truong 

Commission Vice Chair of Regulation & Finance: Dustin Tran

Commissioners

History

Past Chairs

  • JT Eden (Spring 2022)
  • Kabir Sahni (Winter 2022- Spring 2022)
  • Radhika Gawde (Spring 2021- Fall 2021)
  • Julian Garcia (Summer 2020- Spring 2021)
  • Emily Barneond (Spring 2020- Summer 2020)
  • Ashley Lo (Fall 2019- Winter 2020)
  • Henry Nibbelin (Winter 2019- Spring 2019) 
  • Jacob Ganz (Spring 2017- Fall 2018)
  • Nick Flores (Spring 2016- Spring 2017)
  • Abhay Sandhu (Spring 2015-Winter 2016)
  • Nate Bentham (Fall 2014 - Winter 2015)
  • Spencer McManus (Fall 2013-Spring 2014)
  • Amy Martin (Winter 2011)
  • Sergio Cano (Winter 2010-Fall 2010) and (Winter 2011-Spring 2013)
  • Matt Shannon (Spring 2009)
  • Amy Hartstein (Fall 2008-Winter 2009) and (Fall 2009-Winter 2010)
  • Jill Weinstein (Spring 2007)
  • Mike Rivera (Fall 2006-Winter 2007) and (Fall 2007-Spring 2008)
  • Paul Harms (Spring 2006)
  • Kai Savaree-Ruess (Spring 2005-Winter 2006)
  • Marvin Zamora (Spring 2005)
  • Kahliah Laney (Spring 2004-Winter 2005)
  • Bob Gill (Fall 2003-Spring 2004)
  • Jakob Suski (Winter 2003-Spring 2003)
  • Pelin Erdal (Fall 2002)
  • Erik Canales (Fall 2001-Spring 2002)
  • Allen Shiu (Fall 2000-Spring 2001)
  • Anthony Volkar (Fall 1999-Spring 2000)
  • Melanie Sengupta (Winter 1998-Spring 1999)
  • Scott Reed (Winter 1997-Winter 1998)
  • Matt Malone (Fall 1996-Fall 1997)
  • Maya Kwiat (Winter 1995-Fall 1995)
  • Peter Nguyen (Fall 1993-Winter 1995)
  • Larissa Adams (Fall 1992-Spring 1993)
  • Donny Anderson (Fall 1991-Spring 1992)

IAC: Birthplace of Power

There is a high incidence of powerful people coming from the ASUCD Internal Affairs Commission.

A few examples:

President

Vice President

Senator

  • Brett Leggett, former ASUCD Senator 1995-96
  • Maya Kwiat, former ASUCD Senator 1995-96
  • Erica Rios, former ASUCD Senator 1995-96
  • Amos Tubb, former ASUCD Senator 1995-96
  • Jason Capitan, former ASUCD Senator 1995-96
  • Robert Gill, former ASUCD Senator
  • Janine Fiel, former ASUCD Senator 2004-2005
  • Darnell Holloway, former ASUCD Senator 2004-2005
  • Marvin Zamora, former ASUCD Senator 2005-2006
  • Michael Lay, former ASUCD Senator 2006-2007
  • Molly Fluet, former ASUCD Senator 2006-2007
  • Justin Patrizio, former ASUCD Senator 2008-2009
  • Erin Lebe, former ASUCD Senator 2008-2009
  • Kevin Massoudi, former ASUCD Senator 2008-2009
  • Previn Witana, former ASUCD Senator 2008-2009
  • Don Ho, former ASUCD Senator 2009-2010
  • Amy Martin, former ASUCD Senator 2010-2011
  • Kabir Kapur, former ASUCD Senator 2011-2012
  • Maxwell Kappes, former ASUCD Senator 2012-2013
  • Gareth Smythe, former ASUCD Senator 2013-2014
  • Roman Rivilis, former ASUCD Senator 2014-2015
  • Sam Park, former ASUCD Senator 2016-2017
  • Simran Grewal, ASUCD Senator 2016-2017
  • Jose Meneses, ASUCD Senator 2016-2017
  • Michael Navarro, ASUCD Senator 2020-21
  • Ambar Mishra, ASUCD Senator 2020-21
  • Radhika Gawde Senate President pro Tempore 2022-2023
  • Arushi Ragunathan Senator 2022-2023
  • Juliana Martinez Hernandez Senate President pro Tempore 2022-2023

Controller

Unit Directors

  • Brett Leggett, Director of the ASUCD Academic Affairs Office 1996-97
  • Dorothy Yee, former Director of the ASUCD City/County Affairs Office 1995-96 and former Assistant Director of the ASUCD Academic Affairs Office 1996-97
  • Scott Reed, former Director of the Book Exchange 1997-1998
  • Derick Lennox, former Director of ASUCD Lobby Corps 2006-2008
  • Matt Shannon, former Director of ASUCD University Affairs 2007-2009

Elections Committee Chairs

  • Sergio Cano, former ASUCD Elections Committee Chairperson Winter 2011
  • Aaron Hsu, former ASUCD Elections Committee Chairperson 2012-2013
  • Eric Renslo, ASUCD Elections Committee Chairperson 2013-2014

Chief of Staff

  • Kevin Powers, ASUCD Chief of Staff 2007-2008
  • Amy Hartstein, ASUCD Chief of Staff 2008-2009
  • Francisco Lara, ASUCD Chief of Staff 2014-2015

Other

  • Tom Aguilar, GSA Vice Chair 2007-2008, GSA Chair 2006-2007, GSA External Chair 2005-2006 (was actually the Internal Affairs Representative to the Legislative Assembly, back in the long, long ago)
  • ASUCD Business and Finance Commission, Gregory D. Webb
  • Missy Lyla Whitney, ASUCD Court Chief Justice 2008-2010

IAC was very influential under the leadership of one of its longest-serving chairs, Peter Nguyen. Serving first as member and Vice Chair of the IAC from 1992-93, Nguyen went on to chair the commission from Fall 1993 through Winter of 1995 when he was elected ASUCD President. During this era, a large number of ASUCD leaders emerged from IAC (see above), and IAC was the primary progressive resistance to the Davis College Republicans-dominated Executive Council. In fact, so many Council bills died in IAC that, for purely political reasons, the Executive Council called a closed session to discuss the job performance of Nguyen as chair in Fall 1994. Nguyen opened up the closed session to the public, exposed the political gambit to the press, forced the Council majority to back down from removing him as Chair, and caused a backlash against the Davis College Republicans which led to their fall from power in the Winter 1995 election.

Dramatic incidents

  • Rather dramatically, RevChad was forced to resign from IAC when he joined the 2005/2006 Elections Committee as you can only hold one Senate-confirmed position at any given time.
  • Pledge of Allegiance Controversies (2006-2007):  Steve Ostrowski introduced a bill to add the U.S. pledge of allegiance to the Senate agenda three times, it failed three times. Due to the surprise of various ASUCD officials at being videotaped, the meeting was shortly adjourned. The tape was turned into a seven minute Youtube video with music, stock images, and written commentary in the form of title cards. The cameraman was funded by the conservative Leadership Institute. Former ASUCD Controller Cameron Menezes wrote a letter to IAC commissioners that criticized the anti-Pledge position.

Comments:

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2007-02-07 11:53:39   Where can I find the bills that have been proposed before ASUCD regarding the Pledge of Allegiance? —CarlosOverstreet

http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/government/gov-documents/senate-bills/bills.html Bill #12 is one of the previous bills to have the pledge mandatory in senate meetings. ~Matt

http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/government/gov-documents/senate-bills/2005-2006 The 05-06 year, bill #84.

  • I see how its only a minor change in the agenda of the meeting, however, I would like to know why it was oppossed with such vehemence, besides the fact Steve Ostrowski was the author? — CarlosOverstreet
    • There were a variety of reasons, including that it went against the uc davis principles of community. I'm not in a good state to answer your question.
    • I read through the principles of community and I don't see how the pledge of allegiance (without a real loose interpretation of the principles) contradicts this. — CarlosOverstreet
      • It's a violation of the Principles of Community because the Pledge of Allegiance is, in part, a form of blasphemy in my religion. As a Discordian, I'm sure that "Under God" really means "Under Goddess", so I'm cool with that. But it says "To the republic, for which it stands." This is clearly false, as Emperor Norton, our saint, has clearly declared the United States an empire. To say anything different would sully the name of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, and people should be ashamed to recite this desecrating nonsense. —BrentLaabs
      • Do you refrain from saying the pledge of allegiance at all? — CarlosOverstreet
        • In the last several Senate meetings, Peake or Molnar have been leading the Pledge of Allegiance, during public discussion, which is when I normally read off the names. There have been varying degrees of participation, and varying degrees of "Under God", but in public discussion it is completely voluntary, and people are allowed to say and think what they want. —MaxMikalonis
      • Emperor Norton did tolerate the continued presence of Congress, after they did not follow his orders and break up. That can be viewed as him tolerating the duel existance of the Republic. —JosephBleckman
    • This bill parallels the placement of the flags at Senate. It has the possibility of alienating those that 1) do not identify themselves as American or 2) do not want to or feel it is necessary to pledge to any flag or country. The pledge can also be a very intimidating event for anybody that is attending Senate who is not comfortable with reciting or even hearing the pledge. The flags are a passive display, whereas reciting the pledge is an invasive event to some. Granted, recital of the pledge is voluntary, but listening to the pledge is not. Taken in account with bylaws that require certain people to be present at Senate, the passing of the bill can create a very unfair environment to some. So in the end, this bill can serve to alienate those that are mandated to attend Senate meetings and may even discourage student participation in ASUCD. —EricWu
      • The pledge of allegiance is intimidating? Oh, please, Eric. Pathetic, and indicative of how very little you understand or appreciate the United States of America. —CameronMenezes

2007-02-07 12:21:27   The IAC should've known better, Mason Harrison anyone? I don't think it's a big deal but then again I wasn't there. —GregWebb

As such I want to prevent any speculation or claims regarding this incident, I dislike drama and would like to not see it on this wiki. ~DavidPoole

Linking the video is rather pointless due to how the video itself is rather misleading. The only substantial part of the entire clip is when someone who isn't even on the commission tells the camera man to turn it off. Most people who watch it have absolutely no idea what is really going on, and I'd rather not have misleading clip posted here to confuse people. Aside from that, if people feel that the event is worth a paragraph on this page so be it. ~Matt Shannon

  • I'm inclined to second Commissioner Shannon's motion. The clip implies that both former-Chairman Harms and Senator Peake are IAC Commissioners, which is an unfortunate implication to draw in this case. Unless this footage actually does make some semi-major media/news providers, the misrepresentation of the Commission is rather shady to have on this page. Now, if the footage does make Fox News, or something like that, then it'd have a place here, due to the noteworthiness of it. —Commissioner Bleckman
    • Is there a law in ASCUD prohibiting the video recording of ASUCD Commission meetings? Why was steve recording in the first place? — CarlosOverstreet
    • I agree with all of you, I linked it to mitigate an edit war, I guess I rather not have pointless reverts etc. I think the issue has passed though.

2007-02-28 16:53:32   Wow. That video is ridiculously stupid. —TusharRawat

2012-05-14 00:06:35   It's Joshua Herskovitz not Herskoivtz —JoshuaHerskovitz

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