After a long break, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno’s senators were back. They met on Jan. 24 with two resolutions on the table.
The meeting started off with Kent Ervin, a former university professor and current legislative liaison for the Nevada Faculty Alliance, giving public comment in regards to the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents vote on the cost of living adjustment solution, which proposed raising student fees to make up for budget losses. Ervin mentions a quick summary of his eight part series on the NFA website regarding the hiring freeze of 108 positions, 5% budget cuts across departments and the 5% administrative overhead charge for self-supported programs.
Ervin mentions the other fees noted and their fiscal impact as a result of administrative decisions since 2020. All of the impacts and their fiscal results were laid out in the table summary for the eight-part series. He finished his comment by encouraging the students to speak to the Board of Regents about requiring the university, and other campuses, to be fully transparent about their revenues.
S.R. 91- A Resolution in Support of the Distribution Of Fentanyl Testing Strips
Taylor Limbacher, senator for the School of Social Work, and Tori Beaulac, senator for the College of Science, presented a piece in order to encourage the support of the distribution of fentanyl testing strips at the university.
The senators presented statistics that showed from 1999 to 2021, 645,000 people died from drug overdose in the U.S. due to fentanyl being a “tasteless, synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 10 times stronger than morphine.” According to their resolution, two milligrams of fentanyl will kill a person. During their presentation, they showed the other senators two videos showing a police officer and a graphic creation, both emphasizing the danger of the drug.
The senators also noted that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has already been giving students “life-saving access” to fentanyl testing strips, along with other universities in California. They emphasized this is just part of the many other interventions that come with drugs and potential overdosing for college students. The strips are almost 100% accurate, according to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.
Kelsea Frobes, senator for the School of Journalism, stated that she was proud of this piece and believed it could save lives of loved ones.
Joel Martin, senator for the College of Liberal Arts, spoke with concern about putting it in places like the Joe Crowley Student Union with potential correlation of encouraging students to take drugs on campus.
“I don’t think we want to be correlating this with ‘oh you can go shoot up in the Joe [Crowley Student Union]’ … I’m personally, for the record, not for it,” Martin said. “I think these are a great step in the right direction.”
The resolution was passed with a unanimous vote at the senate table.
S.R. 91- A Resolution in Support of Canceling Classes on Election Day
Leaf Acklin, senator for the College of Liberal Arts, presented this resolution to the senate table to encourage democratic engagement in students on campus by canceling classes on Election Day. This was prompted by students encountering obstacles in casting their votes due to time constraints of class, homework and other obligations.
The resolution will be placed on the March student ballot, so that they can gauge the rates of how many students are for classes being canceled so they can vote on election day.
The resolution was passed unanimously by the senate table and will be seen on the students’ March ballot to be voted on. If passed on the student ballot, Acklin reiterated that senators would have to talk to the NSHE and work out the logistics before it is actually put in place.
New chief justice
Rena Arneson was unanimously voted into the position as the chief justice of the ASUN’s judicial branch.
Senator resignation
Tivona Brumfield, senator for the School of Medicine and the Orvis School of Nursing resigned from her senator position due to obtaining another job.
Makayla Mirth, senator for the College of Business announced it would be her last senate meeting, due to changing her major to journalism and no longer being able to represent her college.
Pro Tempore nominations
Frobes and Mark Meiszburger, senator for the College of Business, were nominated to take the pro tempore position that Erin Shaffer, former senator of College of Liberal Arts, had held before her resignation.
After giving their speeches of why they want the position, the senators voted on Meiszburger to fill the pro tempore position.
Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.
Correction as of Jan. 31 10:26 a.m. “Fentanyl” fixed in title.
Correction as of Jan. 31 6:57 p.m. “Joel Martin, senator for the College of Liberal Arts, spoke with concern about putting it in places like the Joe Crowley Student Union …” Martin’s specific quote was also added after this paragraph.
