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BERKELEY'S NEWS • SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

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ASUC to vote on anthropology library closure, opportunities for transfer, undocumented students

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WILLIAM YAU | STAFF

Looking to protect campus research and representation, the ASUC will soon vote on three new resolutions.

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MARCH 06, 2023

ASUC senators introduced three new resolutions for committee vote during the weekly senate meeting Wednesday.

The first of these resolutions was SR 22/23-038, which urges campus administration to indefinitely postpone its decision to close the Anthropology Library as part of the Berkeley Library Long Term Space Plan.

According to the plan, which has received pushback from anthropology students and faculty, the Anthropology Library will merge with the Main Stacks Library by January 2024.

The resolution calls on campus to hire a full-time librarian to support the services and programming of the library and give the anthropology department more authority in decisions regarding the operations of the library.

“UC Berkeley is one of the best public institutions in the world, and prides itself on the research impact we have on the global community, but also does not do enough to support the libraries, which are home to much of that research,” said resolution sponsor and Independent Senator Kailen Grottel-Brown in an email. “This resolution is a step in adding needed pressure to UC Berkeley administration to reverse their decision.”

Transfer-student senate officials then presented SR 22/23-039, the Strengthening Transfer Representation on Necessary Grounds Act, or S.T.R.O.N.G. Act, which the ASUC Governance and Internal Affairs Committee will be voting on Monday.

The resolution will amend the ASUC constitution to turn the transfer student representative position into an executive officer position because, by its current definition, it is neither a senate nor an executive position despite representatives having to go through an executive-like election race, according to resolution sponsor Executive Vice President Chief of Staff and campus transfer student caucus chair Alfonso Marquez.

The act also aims to clear up discrepancies about the role by adding a section on the duties of the transfer student representative to the constitution, as stated in the resolution text.

Additionally, the position will require candidates to be transfer students in order to run as a means of promoting equitable access to ASUC institutions for transfer students, stated resolution sponsor Ashley Tigue, who is the transfer student advocacy director and lead chief of staff in ASUC Senator Hatefi’s office and deputy chief of staff for the executive vice president.

“Making the transfer student representative position an executive office will help with retention and recruitment rates of transfer student-leaders in the organization, which is urgently needed considering how minimal the representation of transfer students are in the organization but also in leadership positions campus-wide,” said resolution sponsor and Executive Vice President Giancarlo Fernandez in an email.

If the act passes in the senate meeting March 8, it will be included on the ballot as a proposition to be voted on by students during election week, Tigue added.

External Affairs Vice President Bailey Henderson then announced his sponsored SR 22/23-040 in support of the Opportunity4All campaign.

The resolution urges the university to remove the citizenship requirement to work within the UC and provide equal employment access to undocumented students.

The three resolutions will be voted on during the weekly senate meeting March 8.

Contact Ani Tutunjyan at 

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MARCH 06, 2023