This is the official platform of the Friends Urging Campus Kindness ASUCD Senate slate. This text is not for the faint of heart, but it is the source for those who want to examine the platform in depth. Those who want to have a more cursory look at what the Slate stands for should look at Friends Urging Campus Kindness Issues.

In the words of founding Senator Rob Roy, "Friends Urging Campus Kindness was an ASUCD Senate slate with lots of lofty goals that were mostly created by Brent Laabs on this wiki page. Whether these goals were achieved or not, and the public scrutiny of their failure, fell upon the burden of Rob Roy and Kristen Birdsall.

"The slate is dead; so is the platform."

Brent Laabs comments on Rob's statement, "However Rob Roy wants to phrase it, he and Kristen Birdsall did campaign on accomplishing these goals. I don't think any of us in the slate thought we could accomplish all of them, even at the outset of the campaign. But if we did have a common basis that brought us together as a slate, it would be the platform. Indeed I did write the platform, but only after consulting and combining the ideas of the original 17-member slate. And when Rob ran, he promised he would support everything from the "The Countback Amendment" to "No Embezzlement". Rob and Kristen have now abandoned these promises, rather than holding themselves accountable for their promises.

"If they had chosen to remain true to the ideas they campaigned on, they would have been judged very highly — accomplishing a large number of the original group's goals. Instead, Rob Roy has chosen to blame me with his failure."

Reading this document

Updates on the progress of particular issues will be color coded as follows:

Achieved.
In Progress.
Failed.

Student Government for All Students

Downstairs Office Hours

Very few students know what the ASUCD Senate actually does; even fewer know how to contact their senators. We at Friends Urging Campus Kindness plan to hold office hours on the Quad, or at ASUCD's office on the first floor of the MU during inclement weather. In this way, we will better be able to connect to students. All you have to do is walk by the MU at lunch time, and a senator will be available to talk about the issues you care about.

Current Status:
Achieved. Friends Senators Kristen Birdsall and Rob Roy hold their office hours on the Quad in front of the MU about once a week. Ari Kalfayan and Janine Fiel have also been spotted holding office hours on the Quad. See Senate to see the hours — if they're not downstairs they're up on the 3rd floor. Though the Senate bought an $80 unenvironmentally friendly vinyl sign, Rob made a rather awesome sign for senate office hours on canvas.

ASUCD Documents Available Online

Currently, very few government documents are online. Only bills already passed by the Senate and signed by the President are online – but wouldn't you like to know about that $42,000 laser printer before they buy it? Many documents are only available on the third floor of the MU, and you have to ask to look at them, as they are not on public display. Making ASUCD budgets, upcoming Senate bills, Senate agendas, and ASUCD Court documents available online is a good remedy to an administration which has repeatedly broken the public trust.

Current Status:
Achieved. SOSSS/Independent candidate Jonathon Leathers wrote a bill to have legislation put online, which was then greatly augmented by Thomas Lloyd. It passed through a bizarrely arduous journey in the Internet and Networking Committee, and then was approved unanimously by the Senate. Bills are online and each has a one-sentence description.
Failed. A bill was approved by the Internal Affairs Commission and went to Senate to record minutes for the Elections Committee during meetings where violation points may be assessed. These minutes will then be released to the public and available for review by the ASUCD Court. This way, we can understand their reasoning for punishments given to candidates and establish precedent to ensure consistency in the future. However, this bill was changed by the senators, such as LEAD's Thomas Lloyd, to keep the minutes secret from the public. They will still be available to the court, but this hardly looks like open government. This method was, however, overwhelmingly seen as the more responsible move to make, and key arguments to keep the minutes private were, in fact, made by F.U.C.K.'s very own Rob Roy - Seen here.

See ASUCD Open Government for more information. Also, Jonathon Leathers' bill is a step in the right direction, but it still doesn't put anything aside from ASUCD Senate bills (pending, revised, etc) online. So still no budgets or ASUCD Court documents.

ASUCD Documents Available at Senate Meetings

Whenever we attend the senate, there are never enough agendas available for everyone. Those with their own laptops may be able to access them if they are available online, as mentioned above. However, we would like a laptop and a printer available at senate meetings, so that no student is left out of the proceedings. In this way, everyone can understand the process, comment, and help build better bylaws – without needing to waste paper!

Current Status:
Partially Achieved. ASUCD Vice President Darnell Holloway did a much better job of providing documents, and even wrote up a nice guide on parliamentary procedures for newbies. However, no one pursued putting agenda documents online, other than Jonathon Leathers bill, which doesn't really provide the exact documents the Senate is looking at.

Promote Interactions with Student Clubs

Student clubs are one of the most important aspects, and have a variety of needs. Since these organizations are the best place for students to have a collective voice in student government, we have already passed a provision in the Electoral Reform bill to allow Student Organizations to endorse candidates. We will cooperate with Senator Janine Fiel and seek to hear the opinions of many different campus clubs.

 

Current Status:
In Progress at the end of the term. LEAD Senator Janine Fiel held an ASUCD Forum for Student Organizations called "ASUCD vs. Diversity" on Wednesday, April 13. Several Friends Urging Campus Kindness and LEAD members attended, and it seemed rather successful. A lot of issues regarding diversity were raised, and everyone got a better idea of how to get involved in ASUCD.Some affiliates of the slate are attending club meetings, and giving updates ont the progress of the Friends' issues.Issues to be resolved: As far as we could tell, there were no Student Focus affiliates attending. And it seemed like many of the people who attended were already somewhat active in student activities — it strengthened the ties between the active members of the community, but it drew in relatively few outsiders.The Campus Outreach and Organizing Office is supposed to outreach to clubs, but hasn't done much yet.

Senate Meetings in the Coffee House

We feel that the ASUCD government spends way too much time on the third floor of the MU. By moving the senate meetings into the Coffee House, we can promote ASUCD, increase attendance, and accommodate more people. This may require meetings to start at 6 PM instead of 5:30 PM, but this change is a small sacrifice compared to the input of the people.

Current Status:
In Progress at the end of the term. ASUCD is currently planning an expansion of the Coffee House, using money already approved by the Campus Expansion Initiative. It's possible that we could get a place that could be downstairs, and better suited to the Senate's needs.

Commissions and Committees

Merge Health and Wellbeing Committee into Gender and Sexuality Commission

The Health and Wellbeing Committee has only one or two projects every year, and yet the members are paid and the unit has a budget. We think that we need to stop this piece of government pork and reorganize the committee's duties into the duties of the Gender and Sexuality Commission. As health is a major issue in sexuality, we feel that this GASC is the best equipped to deal with the mission of promoting health in general. In addition, it would lend credibility to the unit, which comes under frequent fire from those with less kinky leanings. Also, after the merger, we will support renaming the Gender and Sexuality Commission into something more inclusive if there is enough impetus to do so.

Current Status:
Achieved. The new Controller, Devin Whitney (LEAD) was primarily responsible for removing the line item from the budget for the Health and Wellbeing Committee. Some of the activities of the former committee will be merged into the Campus Safety unit and the Campus Outreach and Organizing Office. However, most of the activity will take place where it is done best: the Health Education and Promotion program at Cowell Student Health Center.

Increase Gender and Sexuality Commission's Budget

Cost of one fire truck for Aggie Pack to launch tube socks: $5,000. Annual budget of the Gender and Sexuality Commission: $3,099. We believe that the Senate has misplaced its priorities in the past by promoting special interests such as Aggie Pack rather than funding projects that benefit a large number of students. GASC projects are educational as well as entertaining, and provide a lot more quality to student life than getting hit in the head by a tube sock.

 

Current Status:
Achieved. I think they got about $800 more. I'm not sure on the amount because I don't have a copy of the budget, but I think we can look forward to more Sex Toy Workshops.

Senators at Commission Meetings

One of the problems that is almost routine in Senate is the lack of Senators at Commission meetings. These commissions are the heart and soul of ASUCD's activities at UC Davis. We promise that our slate members will attend more commission meetings, so that we will be able to make informed decisions on important issues. We also promise to read all of the legislation before we come to senate meetings. That should be a no-brainer, but it is far too often an issue at senate meetings.

Current Status:
Achieved. Read Sen. Rob Roy's Senate Livejournal if you want confirmation.Also of note, we are the only slate whose senators have not moved a commission chair to tears.

ASUCD Budget

Fiscal Responsibility

We promise to stop wasteful spending, because your tuition keeps increasing due to the State of California's financial difficulties. Yet a part of your tuition goes to pay for ASUCD programs, to the tune of $105. Though we hope to be able to return part of this money to you, the least we can do is to be fiscally responsible in how we spend your hard-earned (or hard-Direct Loaned) money.

Current Status:
Achieved. Budget Hearings resulted in some pretty good things. The unit Turbulence was dissolved, saving ~$1,500. The Health and Wellbeing Committee was also dissolved (see above), saving a few hundred. Sadly, the Entertainment Council's Budget was cut by $30,000, but a large reason for this was because funds had been mismanaged in the past.

Stopping Wasteful Spending

During the last year at Senate, some very odd projects got approved. The foremost of these lapses in senatorial judgment was the purchase of a fire truck for Aggie Pack. We would not oppose the truck if it was intended to put out fires, but this truck is intended to rain down tube socks on the heads of Aggie fans. Tube socks, for God's sake! Even worse, the truck isn't even working yet! Recently, the Senate passed a bill to allocate $80 to purchase a big sign saying "ASUCD Senator Office Hours" for having office hours on the quad. The problem: they already had such a sign, which was in perfectly usable condition but hasn't been used in years. The bill was passed unanimously with the old sign in the room, so RevChad and Rob Roy permanently borrowed without permission the old sign with plans to protest this wasteful spending by using only the old sign should they win senate seats. ASUCD should focus projects that benefit students, not special interests and absurd redundancy.

Current Status:
Both Achieved and Failed. Here's why. Slate members haven't voted to buy us a new fire truck that doesn't put out fires, nor expensive plasma screens which probably won't even make money for AGTV. The new Senate has effectively stopped the purchase of such large ridiculous projects.However, Sen. Rob Roy did not vote to reject the purchase of a vinyl sign for the External Affairs Commission (approx $80) — after he already proved that you can make an awesome sign with just cloth. EAC commissioner and canvas sign maker, Pete Hernandez, stated at the Senate meeting that the commission wanted a profesional-looking sign, which he was unsure that he could do.

There has certainly been progress in other areas [than the vinyl sign]. I agree the sign purchase is stupid, though — especially since it's the freaking external affairs commission (and not the external affairs office..a minor point but it's important because one's duty is to see legislation and the other is supposed to actually be out there, you know, doing stuff —PhilipNeustrom

Cheaper ASUCD Retreats

Currently, there is an ASUCD government retreat which takes place in Lake Tahoe and costs you, the student, $2,000 of ASUCD funds. I'm sure everyone involved in ASUCD enjoys the cabins and the catering, and I'm sure it helps everyone to become friends – just like our slate! But the problem is that it doesn't benefit anyone but the student government officials themselves. We believe that we can become friends without spending so much money. We urge the Senate to show kindness to the campus by holding a retreat somewhere far cheaper, maybe as a camping trip or on campus. Some members of the slate suggested holding it at the Pirate Ship, but for some reason #1 candidate Rob Roy didn't like us volunteering his house. We've been told that there is an extra mattress there for those who pass out from overlegislation.

Current Status:
Achieved. In the new budget, ASUCD retreats will only costed $1,000. However, this money wasn't spent, and Senate removed the requirement of a retreat from the codes completely in Fall 2005.

Two-thirds Amendment for Increasing Fees

Currently, ASUCD has the highest fees of any student body in the U.C. system. Due to two initiatives that have passed in recent years – the Move to D1 and the FACE Initiative – your fees have shot up dramatically. Since voter turnout is so small in ASUCD elections, a minority of people can easily overwhelm a majority of students who don't want the initiative but are not informed enough to vote. We believe that a fee increase should represent everyone's desire for a bigger student government, and so we propose an ASUCD Constitutional Amendment that will require two-thirds of voters to increase the amount you pay in fees.

Current Status:
Achieved. Thomas Lloyd reintroduced the bill in the form of Constitutional Amendment #8, which requires 60% to approve fee increases. It went through IAC (where Official Candidate Chad Van Schoelandt is now a Commissioner) and Business and Finance Commission. It passed Senate with a vote of 11-1, Kalfayan being the only opposition. In the Winter 2005 ASUCD Election, it passed by a large margin. Rob also quixotically tryed to repeal the Move to D1. He found out that it had been illegally placed on the ballot, after the deadline for ballot initiatives. However, this doesn't affect things one way or another, because the UCD Administration determined the increase in fees, not the students. We are saddened at the lack of respect shown for the bylaws by all of the parties involved.

No Embezzlement

For those of you who still think fondly of the Students for an Orwellian Student Senate Slate (SOSSS), we still carry some of their traditions forward to this day. One of those traditions is a promise that every member of the Friends Urging Campus Kindness slate will uphold: We doublepluspromise that we will embezzle unmore than other candidates. If you're wondering if this is really an issue, I have two words for you: Tiqula Bledsoe. You can look him up.

Current Status:
Achieved. None of the Friends Senators embezzled more than their compatriots.

Support Community Projects

We have a strong sense of activism, and we feel that ASUCD funds should be directed towards resources for the campus community in Davis or the world at large. For instance, The House, DavisWiki, and the Counseling Center all provide a great deal of Campus Kindness. But we should not isolate ourselves from the world community either; ASUCD money should be spent to help tsunami relief and future natural disasters of that scale.

Failed. No one looked into this.

Audits of ASUCD Units

ASUCD has many units, and many of them are quite good at serving the undergraduates here at UCD: The Coffee House, Unitrans, and the Whole Earth Festival, and The California Aggie. However, some programs really need a lot of research to see whether they truly serve the campus community. AGTV is a good opportunity to work on television, but do their ratings justify the program? Campus safety is an issue important to many of us, but is the Campus Safety Unit working in an effective way to increase safety? We are not afraid to investigate fully before we come to any decision, as it is the job of the Senate to make sure that your money is serving you.

Current Status:
Achieved. Senate has passed a bill requiring the Internal Affairs Commission to update "Admin Plans" on each unit of ASUCD every other year. This means that every part of the student government will have its goals and projects analysed, hopefully connecting the Senate and the various units more.In other news, the ASUCD Campus Safety unit was disbanded, and the AGTV screens still aren't up.

External Affairs

The Fight for Your Right to Party

John Locke once said that "the right to party" is alienable, and has to be fought for (Stewart et al. 2004). This fact is very apparent in Davis, a community divided into students and residents. The residents, who control most of the city government in Davis, refuse to acknowledge many of the aspects that shape college life. But candidate Rob Roy, as well as the rest of the slate, will fight for your right to party. In fact, Rob Roy has a vested interest in it, as concerts at his house, the Pirate Ship, rack up hundreds of dollars in noise violations. The Davis Police enforce a strict policy against open containers of alcohol, even when having an open bottle of beer is harming no one. If elected, we will lobby to resolve these issues by working with the Davis City Council and create an environment in Davis that includes students.

In Progress at the end of the term. Rob doesn't have concerts at his house any more — that's the old Rob Roy. On the upside, Rob is running for City Council to get more respect for students, and ASUCD has lobbied strongly for a civilian oversight board for the DPD.

End Davis Apartheid

Davis is a house divided against itself. Many students feel as if the residents wish to exclude them, and to make life difficult. As students and residents have different priorities, it is important that both groups are represented on Davis City Council. However, the City Council elections are held in June, during finals week when many students aren't interested voting. These elections need to be moved to November, when most other elections are held and students are most interested in voting. We will also lobby for the city to adopt Choice Voting for council elections.

Current Status:
In Progress. Friends Urging Campus Kindness senators, as well as many other associates of the slate, have been working very closely with the Davis Citizens for Representation and showing up at Davis Governance Task Force meetings, Davis City Council meetings, helping with tabling at Farmers Market for Choice Voting, and helping to produce literature about Choice Voting. Currently, the council is considering whether to adopt the recommendations of the Task Force, which include Choice Voting for the city of Davis. Urger Pete Hernandez is currently on External Affairs Commission and working on a Choice Voting Forum for students and the community to learn about what choice voting could do for the city of Davis.

Creating a Davis Night Life

If only there was a good place for people to perform and have a good time in Davis, there wouldn't be the need for so many house parties. If Davis had a nightclub, residents wouldn't be disturbed and Davis would have an actual night life. We propose that we investigate the creation of a nightclub in the city of Davis, owned and operated by ASUCD. We will also sell beer and wine produced on campus by the Food Science, Viticulture, and Enology departments. This is our most ambitious proposal, and we will seek private investment and a business plan to create a profitable venture.

In Progress at the end of the term. ASUCD is working on a proposal to get concerts organized once a week, by creating agreements with the Varsity Theater and MU Services. It's a long way from completion, but it looks like we might get a lot more local events gared towards students. About the nightclub: when we said "most ambitious", we meant "probably not going to happen". Still a good idea, but we had too much to do.

Lobbying for Students and Ethics of Lobbying

We promise that we will only lobby for issues that relate directly to students and student life. This includes promoting school diversity, reducing student fees, and support for union labor on campus. However, we will work hard to make sure that we do not endorse candidates for public office or issues that most students will not support. This is not to say that we won't take a stand for issues we believe in. We plan on using the senate as a soapbox on which to present our issues, without making the senate vote. In this way, we can balance activism with responsibility to all of the students we represent.

Achieved. We passed a resolution against military recruitment on campus — not because the military is Evil, but because they discriminate against homosexuals. We believe that most people back the Principles of Community, and acted on our convictions.
Failed. Rob Roy voted for a resolution against free tobacco, because of a coin flip.

No Dead Day on Saturday

The University schedule should offer a real day off between classes and their finals, not a lame excuse for a Dead Day on Saturday. They should know that we already have that day off, but we really could use an extra day to study. If the University wants us to do well on our finals, we believe that they should give us an actual Dead Day for studying. This slate is committed to lobbying the University to give us a real Dead Day.

Failed. No one looked into this. However, changing the University's schedule seems to be a primary goal of Ignite's Michael A. Molnar, so it may yet happen.

ASUCD Internal Reforms

More Power to the Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch has very little power in ASUCD, and that has clearly caused an imbalance of power in the student government. The other two branches have been free to create many controversies due to the lack of oversight: the Election Statement Controversy, the Campaigning in Dorms Controversy, and Lamargate. We seek to restore the power of the ASUCD Court so that procedural errors can be avoided in the senate, commissions, committees, and the presidency. This might require a public prosecutor and a public defender to work for ASUCD to bring more cases before problems arise. It also might require ASUCD be given back the elections jurisdiction. We promise that we will make the Judiciary a working branch of the student government.

Current Status:
Achieved. BrentLaabs and other slate members have written a bill to restore the power of ASUCD Court in elections. This passed Senate with a high level of support. Due to what some consider a slow response in the Unqualified Candidates Scandal, some question the wisdom of this now, but our slate stands by the Court. They had a total of five cases filed during our term, exceeding the sum of the previous two years (zero).

Reduced Power for the Executive

Over his term, ASUCD President Kalen Gallagher has had free rein over all of ASUCD. He vetoed legislation which would have kept your fees from increasing in the future. The Judicial Branch cannot author legislation because of Kalen's veto, but the Executive can write as much legislation as he wants. The office of the president has a $20,000 slush fund, to do with as he wants. Many of the autocrats in ASUCD have been removed, such as "Queen" Victoria Swett and "Black Caesar" Tiqula Bledsoe. Clearly, there needs to be more oversight of the President in the future. The Countback Amendment, discussed below, is one important way to accomplish this.

Failed (other than the Countback Amendment below). No one thought this was very necessary now.

The Countback Amendment

Choice voting is a brilliant system, because it allows you to determine a lot about voter preferences. When a senator resigns, the next person who would have been elected fills the empty seat, if the Countback Amendment to the ASUCD Constitution is adopted. As Kalen Gallagher has filled 4 of the 12 Senate seats due to resignations, power has shifted to the President and away from the people. This amendment by the Davis College Green Party would change this; it has our full support. In addition, we will continue our pursuit of elections reform, if need arises.

Current Status:
Achieved. The bill for Countback Amendment, written by PhilipNeustrom and Jonathon Leathers. It passed the Internal Affairs Commission easily, and it passed the Senate on 4/7 with a vote of 11-1-0 (Kalfayan opposed). The Countback Amendment passed during the Fall 2005 ASUCD Election with a high level of support.

Rewrite the Senate's Standing Rules

The way the Senate currently works, abstentions are treated the same as "no" votes; bills must be approved by a majority of senate seats. Thus, if there is a vacancy in the senate, it essentially counts as a "no" vote. Some bills have failed even with a majority of seated senators in support the bills. This is extraordinarily stupid. No elected body works like this. Majority calculations should be calculated based on the number actually participating in the vote, and it will be if we're elected.

Current Status:
Achieved. A bill to this effect, written by Campaign Manager AnthonyParisi and the rest of the slate, was passed by the Internal Affairs Commission on 4/11. It was reworded in Senate on 4/14, and passed unanimously. On an interesting note, a motion to send the bill back to IAC drew several abstentions — enough to fail the motion. VP/Parlimentarian Darnell Holloway has been in Senate long enough to occasionally forget this rule change, causing quite a few points of order.

Expand the Senate to 18 Seats

To take full advantage of Choice Voting, we need to have more senators to represent every group on campus better. Campus conservatives have a senator – why can't engineers? By putting 9 people in senate seats each election (18 total), we ensure that a more diverse group is put in the senate. Diversity of opinions is what makes a university great, and will make the senate much better informed about all of campus life.

Failed. There has been much talk amongst the slate on this issue and we have decided that due to low voter turnout this would not be a feasible plan. If voter turnout was drastically increased then it may be suggested to have 15 senators. But we will talk about that when that is the case. As of now we realize that if there were 9 slots open every election then it would be too easy to get on the senate. But we do recognize that Choice Voting represents most students when the senate is large enough and voter turnout is high enough. - RobRoy
  • Just for comparison, UC Berkeley students elect 20 Senators at once. They've got 36,000 students with average voter turnout around 8,000-9,000. With a threshold of 5%, this comes out to around 400 votes needed to win. In a recent election, about 100 candidates ran from 15 registered parties. Also, note that since ASUCD has staggered elections, the threshold for representation gets inflated twice as much. By the way, an effort is underway this week (signature-gathering phase) at UCLA to move them to a 20-member student Senate elected by choice voting. (Don't mean to intrude on your platform — you can move this if you want. —CJ)

We believe the Freedom of Speech is the foundation of a free society, and that this right to expression must include Freedom of Emotional Speech as well. However, some emotionally charged words have been censored at UCD and in the senate, most notably by Paloma Perez. That is not like Friends Urging Campus Kindness at all. We believe that Freedom of all speech must be protected at senate meetings, election forums, campaigns, and Write Club events. Far too many have been censored so far, to the detriment of us all.

Current Status:
Achieved. But not by the way we expected. Senate has become a more civilized place, where fewer people are feeling so frustrated that no one is listening to them that they feel the need to swear. ASUCD actually listen to you now.The most common insult is a fake "move to censure" now. Also, it has been suggested the people express their discontent at Senate by raising their fists and yelling "This is an outrage!", a la Jason Webley.

Stop Moving/Threatening to Move the Project Compost office, for Christ's Sake

Not much more needs to be said, except that the Project Compost office clearly belongs where it is.

Current Status:
Achieved. The new Campus Center for the Environment is now colocated with Project Compost, which sounds like excellent roommates to us. Project Compost's budget was actually increased in the most recent hearings.

Campus Infrastructure

Remote print stations

We think you should be able to print to campus from anywhere, whether it's from the campus wireless network or from home. We will make the printer drivers available online so anyone on the wireless network can print without taking up space in already crowded computer labs. One day, printing on campus will become as easy as lpr -PMUremote foo.pdf is!

Current Status:
Achieved temporarily. See Remote Printing - IET said nothing about its availability to us when we met with them; however, it seems that it was accessible for a short time, but then shut down.

Sanitary Seat Covers in Restrooms

For some reason, there are no seat covers in Shields Library, one of the campus's dirtiest bathrooms and most highly trafficked buildings. They say that they don't have the budget for seat covers, but there are seat covers in Mrak Hall. We will lobby the university administration to put seat covers everywhere, as it is such a simple sanitary device that all people should have access to them when they need them. If the administration is unwilling or unable to accommodate the sanitary needs of the students, staff, and faculty that frequent Shields Library, we will take it upon ourselves to create a bill to purchase the seat covers and pay for the installation.

Failed. No one looked into this.

Some of us have noticed that the campus webmail, or Geckomail, has been exceptionally slow lately. We're not sure where the data bottleneck is, but it would be possible to use ASUCD funds to purchase a new server if it is needed. Though truly, it is the university's responsibility to maintain the system, and perhaps a little "encouragement" from student government is all they need to get into action.

This will never happen. Geckomail is slow because it's a piece of shit program. If you want it to be faster, it needs to be rewritten. Also, I would think that email servers (ie bronze.ucdavis.edu), would be different machines than the ones that host the web program. In order to make the email servers noticibly faster, ASUCD would have to spend redicilous amounts of money. That's not their job, they don't have a budget for buying servers. IET is much bigger than you and the ammount of beaurocracy there is incredible. If you want your email to be faster and more reliable, forward it somewhere else. I'm sure IET has longrange plans to improve/replace geckomail, they're very smart. Spending money on servers would be reactionary and stupid. - arlen

Current Status:
Achieved, but not by us. There is a planned upgrade of the MyUCDavis service which should greatly improve the performance. We were mainly focused on getting the staplers, anyway.

Television in the MU?

Though the SOSSS part of our slate normally supports telescreens, we're not sure the rest of the campus does. We wish to take a poll of the campus and ask them, "Do you think that the television in the MU, which broadcasts what is essentially advertising, belongs in a university, given how much money it makes for ASUCD?" We think your opinion is important, and we will listen to all public opinion polls as they represent the opinion of the campus in general, not just ASUCD politicos.

Current Status:
In progress. We're trying to find a place for the telescreens where they won't annoy too many people. AGTV continues to base its economic future on the screens, which is somewhat troubling considering the operating life of the plasma screens among other factors. However, pressure has been applied to the idea of moving one screen to the ARC and only moving one screen into the CoHo (if you don't know what this is refering to: info editorial). It might be the case that no screens will show up in the CoHo, and only one screen will be purchased. Furthermore, AGTV may get its own office in the ARC. Hopefully we'll save a lot of money, put the TV in a better place, and cut the TV count.

Campus Entertainment

Old Firehouse Venue for Music Performances

A long time ago, one slate promised the Old Firehouse to be used as a new venue for Davis Music Scene events. However, that slate has a history of breaking the public trust, thus it is not surprising that they broke this campaign promise as well. Pro-music candidate Rob Roy will fight for use of this building as a new venue, bringing more culture to campus.

Failed. No one made an effort to do this — there was more focus on the Coffee House renovation.

It was my understanding that the building was going to be destroyed and that they were going to build somehting else. I don't think that this issue is the fault of Student Focus, (conviencing the university to not tear down a bulding and build something useful would be difficult at best) and that the above paragraph is a misguided cheapshot. Then again, Kalen could have lied about the campus' plans. - arlen

Last I heard the building was going to be used for the Technocultural Studies program. —PhilipNeustrom

The ASUCD Entertainment Council needs more money, so it can put on more events. This would include more concerts by all kinds of artists not allowed in the Mondavi Center, as well as more free movie previews which have been extremely popular on campus. We are, after all, the slate of bread and circuses.

Current Status:
Failed. Quite incredibly. ASUCD Entertainment Council got cut by US$30,000 in the ASUCD Budget for 2005/2006. That's like $50,000 Canadian. Hopefully they can make do with the $61,884 subsidy and $310,680 operating budget that they still have, since they only lost 1/3 of their subsidy. Kristen Birdsall attempted to allocate more money to the Entertainment Council, but found little support other than from Senator Kalfayan. We hope that they can find more local bands willing to play for non-outrageous sums of money. On a side note, El Rodeo lost about $30,000 last year.

Student Services

More Unitrans or Tipsy Taxi Runs

We've all been there. You need a ride on Unitrans or Tipsy Taxi, and it's nowhere to be found. Unitrans runs stop at midnight, and Tipsy Taxi has only one dispatcher to handle the demand. However, this is the time when most people will be too drunk to drive home. We think that there should be increased service at this time to prevent drunk driving and offer more alternative tranportation. Friends Urging Campus Kindness will investigate this, and see which program would be most effective in transporting people from a party to their homes. This might require something like a $1 fee for Unitrans on late runs, but it would be worth it in terms of the safety and kindness you would bring to the campus. Also, we will investigate Sunday Unitrans runs (probably (P/Q lines) – not everyone in Band-uhtrans! could possibly party every weekend.

Current Status:
Achieved (at least partially). Tipsy Taxi is increasing its service to 2AM, which is at least bar closing time. Small steps, everyone. Tipsy Taxi runs now cost more due to a tighter budget, but you can get the same $1 fee with prepaid cards, thanks to Senator Lloyd.

Staplers in the Computer Labs

It should be obvious that people will want to staple things in the computer labs after they've printed them out. However, there are no staplers in the labs. We've heard that they were stolen in the past, and we've come up with a brilliant solution: bolt them down. We have already written a bill allocating a couple hundred dollars from Capital Reserves to buy some staplers for the labs. Solving the little annoyances in student life should be the domain of student government.

Current Status:
Achieved. Rob Roy had extensive meetings with the director of the Campus Computer Labs, which eventually resulted in a electric stapler pilot program in the MU lab. This has now expanded to all major campus labs.Due to the delay in achieving this objective, the Stapler Liberation Front took matters into their own hands, and made an appearance at the Senate.

Promoting Campus Safety

It seems to us that there are already plenty of programs that increase safety on campus, and few people know about them. Self-defense classes are taught through the Women's Center, and Aggie Hosts already provides an Escort Service at night. Publicity of these resources already available to people would really help improve Campus Kindness. We will also look at funding the Women's Center and the LGBT Resource Center in any programs they have to promote tolerance and decrease sexual assault.

Book Prices

It would be nice to take advantage of the free market when it comes to purchasing books for our classes. Currently, most students do not know what books are required for a particular class until the first day of lecture. Usually, there are assignments or readings required relatively soon after that day. This usually leaves just enough time to go to the campus bookstore to purchase the book at its (relatively high) price. In order to allow students to shop around for the best price from competing vendors, a hallmark of our free market society, we propose that the student government compile a list of all required texts for all possible classes for each quarter and publish them on a central web site, including ISBN numbers, before the start of the quarter to allow all students enough time to look around for the best price. This would increase competition among all vendors and ultimatly lead to lower prices for the students.

Current Status:
Achived. See daviswiki.org/cool_files/books (we hope the functionality will eventually be on the ASUCD Website, but it was necessary to release the information as quickly as possible). ASUCD Senator Kristen Birdsall worked for awhile investigating various ways of getting all the ISBN numbers and getting them online. Finally, she worked with the UC Davis Bookstore to obtain their master list of textbooks. Additionally, Friends Urging Campus Kindness slate member RobertBaron is working with a CalPIRG committee to lobby for lower textbook prices. He also became chair of the new ASUCD Textbook Affordability Committee. More information in this article by the California Aggie.

Reclaim the MU 5th Floor

Though there are property insurance issues involved with people on the roof of Memorial Union, it is obvious that it was designed to accomodate people. Since the radioactive KDVS antenna is no longer on the roof, we feel that everyone should be allowed to be on the 5th Floor Patio. It is, after all, a student union owned by ASUCD.

Failed. No one seriously pursued this issue.

SECRET AGENDA: Campus Kindness

Social Revolution

If there's one thing that Davis needs, it's a social revolution. We want a new culture, a new philosophy, and a new birth of freedom. We're not exactly sure how to accomplish this, but it will probably involve pot and/or Project Mayhem.

Current Status:
In Progress. At least we stopped them from immanetizing the Eschaton.

More Redwood Trees on Campus

Okay, we know these trees just suck up the water in the summer, but they're very nice, and add a great feel to the campus. Redwood trees are the heart of California, and have a soul all their own. Besides, what other contribution can you make that will show Campus Kindness long after you're dead?

Current Status:
Achieved. But not with redwoods, we instead helped to plant native species and drought tolerant trees. Senate passed a resolution supporting a 100-year plan for trees on campus. Chad Van Schoelandt helped plant the trees... and Eric Fox walked into one.

Terraforming

We think that life in Davis would be greatly improved if we just installed some hills and an ocean. A mini-golf course would be great among such features. As card-carrying members of the Bavarian Illuminati fnord, our slate members will support all current plans for changing Davis' geography, if they exist.

Current Status:
Achieved. The Warehouse 23 Climate Machines are starting to work.

Clean Up Putah Creek

Just because of its name, the body of water doesn't have to be as dirty as an old puta. We'd like the campus to clean it up, and make water actually flow through there. There is definitely not enough Campus Kindness for the fish, and we friends are urging more kindness.

  • At first, i thought this was just as redicilous as terraforming. They've drained Putah in the past, only to have it become green once again. Solution: Make feeding the ducks in the Arboretum punishable by a $150 fine, and enforce it. Feeding the ducks ruins everything and people who do it should be fed to the ducks, but we can settle for fines. - arlen
    • I think the solution is not victimizing the ducks, but installing floating aeration pumps. These can be seen in ponds shooting jets of water into the air. People think they're decorative, but in fact they're there to get oxygen into the water, thus sterilizing unwanted microbes and keeping the pond clear. —SteveDavison
Current Status:
Failed. No one seriously looked into this issue.

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2005-01-27 22:19:42   We should be planting Valley Oaks, not redwoods. —JackHaskel

2005-01-28 16:05:21   I agree about the oaks. Native plants should be given preference over non-native generally, and the main focus should be on minimizing upkeep costs such as watering. —RevChad

2005-02-02 14:06:33   I love the idea of Senate meetings in the CoHo. —RishiTrivedi

2005-02-03 02:50:10   but what about sudden oak death??? —LisaDavis

2005-02-03 08:13:05   Last I heard, the Valley Oak was not one of the species effected by Sudden Oak Death Syndrome. My main point was that we should be planting native species. This is a small issue though. —JackHaskel

2005-02-03 10:41:24   i think lisa was refering to the band sudden oak death —RobRoy

2005-02-03 10:47:52   Hey, FYI, Tipsy Taxi has *two* dispatchers working on Friday and Saturday (there's no need for more than one on Thursdays) what Tipsy Taxi need are more phone lines, I think they only have two now, though it could be one. —AbbyLawson

2005-02-04 00:01:02   This is a very elaborate platform. I likes. —JanineFiel

2005-02-10 22:50:01   I don't especially agree/understand with your "right to party" stance. Other people should be considered too! And there is probably no problem with your "right to party" unless you're making so much noise the neighbors are annoyed.. —EugeniaWong

2005-02-11 23:08:34   Dear Eugenia: When we say "right to party" we do not meab "right to disturb those around you." This is one reason why we request that the city be more business friendly and allow a private club to open and get partyers out of the residential areas. We also want to bring music to campus, so it doesn't have to be at Rob Roy's house. —RevChad

2005-02-11 23:18:18   Hey all, I have been looking into the office on the first floor idea. They just closed it because no one was going in it so they thought it was a waste of money, but I think it would be totally different if senators were in the office. Lets work together on it. :) —JanineFiel

2005-02-11 23:27:47   Hey all, I was just wondering what kind of exact plans you have for implementing some of this stuff, like getting a printer in senate meetings, and getting more unitrans buses at night. Who have you talked to in terms of getting staplers in labs and getting back toilet seat covers in bathrooms because these types of things deal a lot with adminstration and univeristy laws etc. Just hinting if you havent already to talk to all these people, places, units, etc that you want to improve etc before hand so you know the feasibility of the issues. I love the ideas and would love to see a lot of this happen, but there is a lot of redtape and talking you have to go through and if you want you can start working on it all now. —JanineFiel

2005-02-11 23:42:59   Dear Janine: The printer would be easy, as anyone with a small printer and a laptop could just pring them, or other printing arangements can be made as long as it is made clear to the public who to talk to even if we use one of the many printers on the 3rd floor. We talked to the unitrans director about extended night service. He already planned to extend at least one line an hour and seemed very accepting of extending others if funding is given. Staplers we are having a small problem with as the people in charge of the ComLabs are avoiding us. We hope they will do this less as senators. Toilet seat covers we haven't looked into yet in our very limited time. Thank you for your feed back. —RevChad

2005-02-11 23:44:21   PS: Let us know how you would like us to help with the 1st floor senate office. —RevChad

2005-02-18 16:22:26   In regard to having 18 Senators elected, I think you have made the right decision in tabling that for the time being. The more feasible plan would be 13 or 15 but one should look at what it would take to get elected as the number of votes might be too low. —JonathonLeathers

2005-02-19 02:58:30   I am concerned about the qualifications of those on your slate. I admit that I have not had much contact with you, but from my experiences I feel that those that I have met are not qualified for such a position. Those that I have met may not have been candidates, but they still represent your slate. The qualifications of other candidates can be questioned, but they still DO possess rudimentary public speaking skills. Those that have represented your slate to me often lacked this. You even lack to mention your qualifications, with only Mr. Leathers and Mr. Hernandez stating experience in a leadership position of a student government within their personal statement. Granted, senate can be dramatically improved, but the changes you aim for must be pushed by strong leaders, which to this day I have not seen. Please prove me wrong. If elected, I do hope your leaders will accomplish their goals and not default on weak premises. —EricWu

  • Rob Roy: Manager of Ben & Jerry's for over 5 years, underwriting director of KDVS, and terrific public speaker. Have you talked to this guy? He stole the show at the ASUCD Elections Forum. He has also authored legislation that was passed by the Senate.
  • Teresa Kenny: General Manager of KDVS. That's a lot of work. The general manager does a lot. She managed all of KDVS, and KDVS is freaking HUGE.
  • Pedro you'd already mentioned.
  • Kristen Birdsall has no former 'leadership' positions, you are correct.
  • There's no way you've talked to Mohammad Yahya Rouhani because he is extremely convincing and passionate in his speaking.
  • Chad Van Schoelandt hasn't held any 'leadership' positions. Chad has, however, worked with the Senate to pass important elections reform legislation.
  • You have not talked to Paul Ivanov because he is an absolutely terrific public speaker.

As for speaking with people who are not candidates but are instead representing the slate, I would like to remind you that those people should not be acting as representives but instead as advisors and contributors of ideas to candidates (and I'm sorry if you weren't impressed with their speaking skills). See my page for more of my personal opinion of these candidates. I encourage you to speak with the candidates yourself and see that they are qualified, open, and interesting people that will hopefully bring meaningful change to the association. —PhilipNeustrom

2005-02-20 23:23:29   Eric: I tend to want politics to be about ideas, but since you ask about leadership and such, I have been an officer with Students for an Orwellian Society since me and Brent Laabs founded the Davis Chapter. I think we are quite accomplished and I have done an AG t.v. interview for that club, as well as speaking before the senate about my election reform. The election reform was a large group effort which I played a major role in coordinating and setting the agenda for. You can also judge my public speaking from the candidates forum. As a philosophy major and agrumentative hobbyist I have learned a decent level of persuasive speaking and actual reasoning. Feel free to find me tuesday as I will be tabling with Rob at noon on the quad, and you can ask me about any other qualifications. —RevChad

2005-06-05 20:23:15   I think the achieved and failed colors need be changed....I'm color blind and cant even see them. —JimSchwab

2005-06-05 20:47:07   Maybe graphics for achieved/in progress? It's in the text in any case. —BrentLaabs

2005-08-07 10:29:40   With regards to extending Unitrans and Tipsy Taxi time, do you ever consider that the drivers and dispatchers are also students? And that this will cost more money for paying for wages, the bus, the extra fuel? Have you asked any of the drivers and supervisors if they are willing to now give up their Sundays to run more service? Please remember that we're students also with classes and homework. —JoAnnaRich

2005-09-15 19:43:12   I submit that the Countback Amendment is awesome. —KenjiYamada

2005-10-22 17:06:57   Walk-up computer terminals (i.e. running Firefox) in the MU hallways, and King lounge. Most other Student Unions I've visited have walk-up computers scattered where there is foot traffic, not just in designated computer rooms. They are very popular. People just walk up to one, check their email, and in 5 minutes are gone. This is the way ubiquitous computer access should be. No hassle. —SteveDavison

2005-10-22 18:57:20   Can we get some estimates on how much these walk up computers will cost, and how would the cash be produced? —PaulAmnuaypayoat

2005-10-22 19:04:38   I suggest you ask LEAD that. It's on their agenda. —BrentLaabs

2008-10-16 03:54:10   I just spent the last few hours reading about F.U.C.K. and I love everything it stands for, I would greatly support the revival of this slate! Any old members still around wanna revive it legally? I'd definitely volunteer to help out! —mperkel

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