Senator resigns in opposition to passed bill

by Philippe Buteau

The resignation of one of the graduate senators was the highlight of the final meeting of the year for the senate of the Student Government Council at Modesto Maidique Campus.

Muhammad Saleem, graduate senator, felt that the proposed bill for the restructuring of the Graduate Student Association as a governing council within SGC-MMC should have been postponed because the advocacy part of the GSA restructuring was incomplete.

When the senate passed the bill with 17 in favor and two against, Saleem expressed his disapproval by resigning.

The Graduate Student Advisory Board, a committee made up of the four proposed graduate senators, will be responsible for conference funding. This is the funding arm of the restructuring. The advocacy part is incomplete as of the April 12 meeting, according to Jose Toscano, SGC-MMC adviser.

Toscano said during the meeting the advocacy part will be complete by the time the new SGA steps into power.

This was the reason behind Saleem’s suggestion to postpone the bill.

“The proposal is not complete and we don’t know the details so how can we decide on this?” Saleem said. “What we are trying to achieve may not be achieved because the proposal is still [being worked on].”

Saleem said during the meeting that he strongly believes the current system for GSA is effective.

Arts & Sciences senator Altanese Phenelus made the case that because the senate has already voted upon GSA’s budget, its fate as a governing council is already decided. Her second point against GSA as a governing council was that there would be senators within the group.

Her argument was that SGA is above governing councils, and if the four proposed graduate senators were in GSA, it “wouldn’t make much sense.”

Her final point was the ability of the council bill to be amended.

“It’s a council bill so you add whatever changes when the next administration comes in,” Phenelus said.

William Jose Velez, Engineering senator and one of the authors of the bill, said it wasn’t squarely aimed at GSA but rather all governing councils. He added that it was meant as a way to add accountability to the councils.

In his resignation address to the senate, Saleem said in their haste to pass the bill they had disregarded what graduate students want, adding that in the town hall meeting on March 10 all graduate students voiced their disapproval of the proposal.

“Ultimately they will be affected from [this bill] and we must not have neglected their opinion,” Saleem said.

Saleem said his purpose for being in the senate was to present the point of view of graduate students and to protect their rights.

“Unfortunately I have failed to do that,” Saleem said.

As a form of protest to his constituents being completely ignored, Saleem resigned.

Vignesh Doraiswamy, Honors College senator, cited several reasons why he voted in favor of reforming governing councils.

Doraiswamy first brought up the effectiveness of GSA. He said they were not effective as far as what has been set up in statutes and constitutions.

His next reason was how GSA provided funding.

“Some of the ways in which they funded money was illegal,” Doraiswamy said. “Or lead to something that became illegal.”

The illegalities that Doraiswamy refers to are some graduate students being funded 100 percent for their conferences or being funded more than once.

Toscano stated the numbers showing this are from PantherSoft, which is not an SGA controlled auditing system but a University one.

The final reason was the Graduate Student Advisory Board, which he said is a more effective way of funding money.

Velez said to Student Media that he “firmly disagrees with [Saleem’s] reasons for resigning.”

He said there’s been evidence confirming the council system is not the best option for GSA and he stands by his vote to reform governing councils.

However, Doraiswamy said the money GSA would need for programming events would come from graduate student organizations within the Council for Student Organizations.

Doraiswamy said because of how long he’s been in the University, he sees that GSA as a governing council is not an effective option.

“[GSA] has tried their best and they’ve proposed solutions, but the budget’s been voted upon and approved,” Doraiswamy said. “We have found this to be a more effective way of dispersing money.”

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