Campus Update

Amy Inkrott / News Editor / The USD Vista

Associated Students

Constitutional changes

In preparation for the upcoming Associated Students (AS) Elections, members of the senate looked to approve changes to the body’s constitution, which will be voted on by students. However, as some senators failed to attend their scheduled constitutional meetings, the student government did not reach an agreement on the document.

Over the past few weeks, Speaker of the Senate Alexander Plummer called three separate meetings to allow senators to discuss any changes to the AS Constitution; though, not all senators were present. Plummer declared the initial meeting to be mandatory for all senators. While some representatives were able to provide a reasonable excuse for their absence, others did not. Only 18 of the senate’s members were present for this meeting. Attendance did not improve much in the following two meetings. At the second meeting, 19 senators were present. The last one — only 14. 

At the April 4 AS Senate meeting, Plummer and AS President Natasha Salgado stood at the podium seeking senatorial approval for the proposed changes. However, many senators and members of the public wished for more discussion time. After half an hour of discussion, the time allowed for that item expired, ending further discussion. Multiple senators motioned to extend the discussion time; however, Senator Carolina Moreno Armenta disagreed. 

“This discussion would be done in a shorter amount of time if senators did show up to the constitutional review meetings,” Moreno Armenta said. “Personally, I don’t think we should be allotting as much time as we are to this.”

Plummer and Salgado echoed this sentiment and encouraged the senators to continue to discuss the constitution outside of the weekly senate meetings. 

“I would ask all of you to engage with this document to the best of your ability and try to get your questions answered before you come to the senate,” Plummer said. 

Next week, the senate will again look to approve changes to the constitution. These changes will include:

A reapportionment of senators

The formation of a judicial branch

A change in the election of the speaker of the senate

Renaming Associated Students to the Associated Student Government

Changes regarding reapportionment and the election process will likely occur during the Spring 2020 AS elections. 

ANSWER and the Jewish Student Union

The contentious relationship between the recently-approved organization USD Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) and Jewish Student Union (JSU) again manifested itself in the April 4 AS Senate meeting. 

In February, USD ANSWER sought to be approved by the AS Student Orgs Committee. Then-Student Orgs Chair Charles Young raised concerns about the organization and their attachment to the larger national organization. Referencing articles from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Young highlighted the national ANSWER Coalition’s connection to anti-Semitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The group however, denied these claims and was permitted to seek the senate’s approval. At the March 28 meeting, USD ANSWER was approved by the senate after sophomore Alanah Winston,  a member of the organization, detailed their relationship with the JSU. Winston explained that USD ANSWER had reached out to the JSU and found that their goals on campus did not conflict. 

JSU President Joshua Glasser, however, claimed this statement to be entirely inaccurate. Prior to the April 4 senate meeting, Glasser prepared a statement on behalf of his organization. When the speaker of the senate called for all final business and hearing from the public, Glasser stood to defend the JSU against ANSWER’s claims. 

“We are extremely disappointed in how AS has handled all these situations the past few weeks,” Glasser said. “We were misrepresented at last week’s meeting; people who were a part of AS told everyone that we were approving of ANSWER. I want to make it very clear that that was wrong; that was extremely inappropriate and we are very upset about it. There was no compromise made between ANSWER and JSU.”

Glasser proceeded to link the national ANSWER Coalition to the terrorist organization of Hamas. This was done in an effort to debunk the claims made by senators saying that ANSWER has no anti-Semitic affiliations. Glasser presented the body with an article from the ANSWER Coalition’s website titled “The U.S. media’s six lies about Hamas.”

He also claimed that AS has no right to define what anti-Semitism truly is. Quoting the U.S. Department of State, Glasser provided the body with an official definition of anti-Semitism. He then quoted from the 1988 Hamas covenant in an effort to connect it to this definition. 

In the middle of the statement, a member of the senate motioned to end the meeting. However, many members of the senate believed Glasser should be allowed to finish. Alcalá Vistas senator Rowan Parmenter advocated for Glasser. 

“This body continues to try and silence the opinions of the Jewish Student Union,” Parmenter said. “We did it last week and were doing it again this week. It’s just despicable.”

Glasser continued to read from the Hamas covenant, expressing the hurt felt by the Jewish Student Union, furthered by the actions of AS. 

“As part of being a student on campus here…we have lost trust in Associated Students.” Glasser said. “We have done everything that we could to try to be respectful and maintain our dignity, and we were as a whole, disrespected.”

Assistant Vice President of Student Life Cynthia Avery explained to the senate that members of the administration extended an invitation to both USD ANSWER and the JSU, encouraging them to engage in a mediated conversation with other members of the administration. Carmen Vasquez, Michael Lovette-Colyer, and Mike Williams are all involved with this dialogue. Avery explained that ANSWER had twice rejected this opportunity; however, they were interested in meeting the following day. 

The USD Vista reached out to Avery and Lovette-Colyer, who decided to wait until after the conversations ended to have an interview.

Before the meeting adjourned, AS President Natasha Salgado addressed the situation and encouraged dialogue between the two groups. 

“It is very clear that we have members from JSU talking about how they’re feeling, what their emotions are. At this point in time, I would say this is out of the AS hands in terms of intervention. In terms of right now, what we are working on is having conversations between ANSWER and the JSU…ANSWER is a student organization. When the vote took place, many students say their vote was not based on the national organization but on the students and what they want to do.”

The meeting adjourned acutely aware of the hurt felt by various groups across the USD campus furthered by the continuation of this conflict.  

College admissions scandal

USD parent Robert Flaxman pled guilty to his involvement in the college admissions scandal on Monday. In a campus-wide email on Tuesday, President James T. Harris III issued a statement explaining that the university is continuing to cooperate with the Department of Education’s investigation. Harris reinforced that no other former or current USD affiliates, other than those previously named, were involved with the scheme. 

Renaming buildings

Last week, President James T. Harris III announced the university’s plan to rename Serra Hall and Missions Crossroads in an effort to promote greater inclusion and diversity across campus. The names of Plaza Mayor and Plaza Menor will also be changed to honor St. Teresa of Calcutta and Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, respectively.