Meeting Minutes
Associated Students | San Diego State University

Wednesday, February 1, 2023 - 3:30pm
Council Chambers, Aztec Student Union

I. CALL TO ORDER

A.S. Vice President of University Affairs, Sandy Mekany, called the meeting to order at 4:44 p.m. 

II. ROLL CALL

-

  1. Voting Members Present: Sandy Mekany, Shawki Moore, Meena Alexander, Robson Winter, Sophia Koch, Ilias Benbatoul, Jacob Cherayil, Ally Gallant, Olivia Peachey, Kailey Quezada, Lindsay Guadette, Victor Plunkett, Colin Ro, Nina Go, Camila Milanes, Devon McVicar, Charlotte Giacobetti, Sydney Simpson, Ethan Shelden (left at 5:32 p.m.), Brandon Bartosh, Grace DeVega, Ava Walker 
  2. Voting Members Absent: George Kaplan, Griffin Cour, Trevor Gartlan, Alvin Pham, Malia Presiendorf, Justice Herrera, Tyler Hollander 
  3. Non-Voting Members Present: Isabella Todd, Christina Brown, Dr. Randy Timm
  4. Non-Voting Members Absent: Christine Molina, Dr. Marissa Vasquez
  5. Visitors: Dr. Emilio Ulloa, Gabriel Schneider 

III. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

It was moved and seconded to approve the agenda.

QUEZADA/GIACOBETTI      CARRIED (21-0-0)

IV. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was moved and seconded to approve the University Council meeting minutes of 11/30/22. SHELDEN/BARTOSH       CARRIED (21-0-0)

V. PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

-

VI. UNIVERSITY REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 

  1. University Senate Designee: No report.
  2. University Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity Designee, Dr. Randy Timm reported on the following: The Leadership Summit registration ends this week and the guest speaker will be Penn Badgley and Cody Barbo, former A.S. President. The Commuter Resource Center will have a Commuter Students and Taco event on Tuesday the 7th from 12-1:30 p.m.  SDSU has had the highest retention rate in first year students so far this year at 96%. Financial Aid and Scholarships have been moved to a manual process due to the my.SDSU switch and so they have been slightly behind schedule. 
  3. Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Recommendations to SDSU - Dr. Emilio Ulloa, Associate Chief Diversity Officer HSI & Regional Affairs: Dr. Emilio Ulloa gave a presentation on the recommendations several committees have created to improve the SDSU as an Hispanic Serving Institution. These recommendations addressed various issues from academics, to representation, to addressing the Hispanic student to Hispanic faculty ratio. 

VII. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION 

  1. General Consent Agenda (Action):
    It was moved and seconded to approve the general consent agenda.

    DEVEGA/SHELDEN      CARRIED (21-0-0)

  2. General Consent Report (Information): The general consent report was reviewed.

  3. Selection of ASUC Member for the A.S. Vacancy Ad-Hoc Committee (Action)
    Ally Gallant was selected as the primary ASUC member with Devon McVicar serving as the alternate. 


    It was moved and seconded to approve the selections of the A.S. Vacancy Ad-Hoc Committee.

    DEVEGA/GO       CARRIED (21-0-0)

VIII. REPORTS OF UNIVERSITY COUNCIL MEMBERS 

  1. Sandy Mekany, Vice President of University Affairs: Beth Bridges, the Shared Governance Assistant, asked Sandy to speak about the open University Senate committees to encourage ASUC members to fill vacancies. Sandy is helping to mitigate issues with my.SDSU, Graduate Student Health Insurance Program (GSHIP), and Equitable Access. 
  2. Shawki Moore, President: The conversation around the current proposed out-of-state and international student fees has a lot of questions and concerns so there will be an upcoming All Council meeting to explain the details of the fee. Shawki requested feedback about the “Let's Talk Elections” townhall to find ways to improve it. 
  3. Meena Alexander, Executive Vice President: Meena encourages people to RSVP for the spring retreat on Friday and everyone will meet at the Meeting Center by Viejas Arena. Mending Minds will be meeting on Fridays from 2-3 p.m. Next Friday, the Aztec Achievement Awards application will open for nominations.
  4. Robson Winter, Vice President of External Relations: During the past weekend Shawki and Robson went to the California State Student Association (CSSA) in San Jose, CA and spoke about various issues impacting students on CSU campuses.SDSU received recognition for having the highest percentage of students that are registered to vote.
    California Higher Education Student Summit (CHESS) is an important initiative for the Lobby Corps and External Relations Board which is a conference where students are able to speak to Congressional members about legislative issues that impact students. 
  5. Sophia Koch, Vice President of Financial Affairs: Sophia encouraged council members to have recognized student organizations spend money that is allocated to them before it is gone. 
  6. Christina Brown, Executive Director: The GSHIP deadline was yesterday and if there are any graduate students who have not opted out they will automatically be billed for health insurance. Christina is preparing for the SDSU Day of Giving and they will be highlighting the SDSU Children’s Center. 
  7. Ava Walker, ASBOD Student-At-Large: No report. 
  8. Brandon Bartosh, ASBOD Student-At-Large: Brandon is on a search committee for the Associate Vice President of Curriculum and the committee just finished their second round of interviews. 
  9. Grace DeVega, ASBOD Student-At-Large: Grace and Sandy are sitting on the search committee for the Global Campus Dean and the process is slowly moving along. 
  10. College of Arts and Letters: No report. 
  11.  College of Business: No report. 
  12. College of Education: The gift wrapping event before Christmas break with the Tijuana Home Build was successful. 
  13. College of Engineering: No report. 
  14. College of Health and Human Services: No report. 
  15. College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts: PSFA is hosting a Lend a Hand event in different PSFA offices where they are collecting school supplies to be recycled and reused. PSFA had a meeting today where they discussed the next Donuts with the Deans and the PSFA open vacancies. 
  16. College of Sciences: The secretary position is now open. 
  17. Graduate Student Association: No report. 
  18. Undeclared College: No report. 

IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS 

  1. Lindsay Guadette: the Noah Hyken Memorial Fund is looking for teams to join the powderpuff tournament.
  2. Ava Walker: The Black Resource Center (BRC) is celebrating five years this month and there is multiple different black history programming ongoing this month, you can check the BRC instagram for the schedule.
  3. Devon McVicar: Professional Studies and Fine Arts (PSFA) is having an event tomorrow in the Fowler Athletic Center and the marketing director for Taco Bell is coming at 6 p.m.
  4. Nina Go: Aztec Adaptive athletics sports is collaborating to have a wheelchair basketball tournament this weekend.
  5. Olivia Peachey: Sitting volleyball will be the following weekend for Aztec Adaptive athletics and encourages people to play. 

X. ADJOURNMENT 

It was moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 6:02 p.m.

BARTOSH/BENBATOUL      CARRIED (21-0-0)