Stanford Daily
April 13 2005

ASSU ready for new era

By Sal Umberto Bonaccorso
Staff Writer

Many senator-elects attended last night’s ASSU Undergraduate Senate
meeting to watch current ASSU Executive President Chioke
Borgelt-Mose, a junior, deliver her State of the Association speech,
during which she highlighted the accomplishments of the student
government over the past year. The meeting also focused on budget
modification and the allocation of general funding to student groups.
While Borgelt-Mose focused her remarks on past achievement, she also
offered suggestions for what next year’s administration.

`It goes without saying that the administration and rules committee
hs worked continuously through this year,’ Borgelt-Mose said. `I am
very impressed by the committee’s determination.’

She also commended the appropriations committee for its work with
student groups and funding requests, as well as the communications
committee.

`Improving communications is one of the hardest things for the ASSU
to do,’ Borgelt-Mose said. `Communication with the student body will
continue to be a lot stronger in the future.’

She also touched on the need to restructure and improve the
Nominations Commission, and encouraged the new Senate to continue the
dialogue on student housing and space with University administrators.

`You owe it to your fellow students and to the University as a whole
to continue to work for the betterment of the University,’
Borgelt-Mose said.

Elections Commissioner Troy Steinmetz, a sophomore, presented the
2005 ASSU election results to the Senate and voiced his satisfaction
with the absence of post-election problems.

`Thank you to everyone who voted,’ he said. `As of right now, I’m not
aware of any crises or impending controversies, which is great.’

Several bills concerning budget appropriations and modifications were
then brought before the Senate.

A representative from the Stanford Canoe and Kayak Team explained the
complications and costs of obtaining new equipment in response to the
appropriation committee’s recommendation that no money be allocated
to the team for new beginner boats.

The Senate decided to recommend $1,850 in funding to the team, and
all other bills were approved.

Several wording changes were made to the Senate’s by-laws to
accommodate the recently passed Measure A – which combined the
programming and community funds into a single general fees fund – and
the new election invalidation procedure.

The Senate also passed a bill to make April 24 the official
commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in
1915. Before the vote, several senators said they were worried that
the issue was too political to be voted upon by the Senate.