The senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada convened for a speedy meeting on Sept. 18, with only regular officer reports on the agenda.
Reports teased the creation of a grocery store to meet campus food needs, revealed the abrupt end of a College of Business senator’s tenure and publicized the circumstances around this year’s lack of a traditional Welcome Week Concert.
Big news for UNR student stomachs
Sephora Lee, the director of ASUN’s Department of Sustainability, made food insecurity a focal point of her Sept. 18 report.
Lee said she was in the early stages of forming a committee to address food insecurity, as well as potentially making plans for an on-campus grocery store.
In response to a question from Kelsea Frobes, senator for the School of Journalism, Lee said that the store should be budget-friendly as well.
“That was our big point, that costs have to be lower than average,” Lee said. “Just very accessible for students because we’re not trying to make a profit; we’re trying to support the students.”
Bye-bye, Britson
At the top of the meeting, Luis Aguilar-Herrera, UNR’s Associate Director of Student Government, announced that a senator had been terminated after “several attempts to communicate.”
A report given later in the meeting by Aween Ali, Speaker of the Senate, detailed the prolonged ghosting from and eventual termination of Drew Britson, former senator for the College of Business.
According to Speaker Ali, Britson first missed the Aug. 28 meeting with no prior notice. He was absent again from all later meetings, and by Sept. 4 had racked up five points, which in ASUN’s accountability system was enough to land him a censure.
Britson didn’t respond to a notice of that censure, or to a later Sept. 11 notice that he would be terminated if he didn’t send in a letter of resignation or come in for the censure, according to Speaker Ali.
Eventually, Speaker Ali said, she had to come to this decision because keeping Britson on board also held a price tag.
“[Britson] was being paid throughout the duration of this time,” Speaker Ali explained. “I just feel like morally, it’s not okay that student funds are going to someone who’s not doing their job properly.”
Whatever happened to the Welcome Week Concert?
Dawson Deal, president of ASUN, discussed planning complications for the usually annual Welcome Week Concert in response to concerns brought up at the senate table.
Initially, Deal told senators, there had been a date and artist in place for the Welcome Week concert this fall. But it fell apart in the planning stages, he explained.
“We were concerned about the cost of the talent that we were hosting in comparison to what we would consider the return on the investment,” Deal said. “For the money that we were investing on that aspect, we did not believe that it was a good use of student funds.”
Deal went on to cite a $120,000 estimate for the concert, with about $70,000 already allocated for production. That wouldn’t include the cost of hiring an artist.
In the ASUN budget approved for this year in May, $157,005 was allocated towards concerts. But that figure assumed that the concerts would bring in $60,000 in revenue. There might have been impacts on other parts of the budget if the planned concert didn’t bring in that much, according to Deal.
Renting out Lawlor Events Center, which ASUN has done for the Welcome Concert over the past few years, is also expensive. Deal put use of the space at between $20,000 and $30,000 for just one night.
Given that, Deal explained, a fall concert –– which would have to be indoors –– is most likely off the table. He estimated a date in the spring, promising the table, “a concert will happen by the end of the session.”
Deal then urged senators to direct their constituents’ attention to the rest of ASUN’s programs, which he explained make up the 95% of the budget not spent on concerts, despite being less visible.
“There’s absolutely nothing that we’re trying to hide about the process of postponing and re-establishing the date,” Deal said. “Ultimately, we want to put on an event that is high quality. That was not the case for the concert [that was] being planned.”
Deal did not reveal the identity of the would-be headliner.
The meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m.
Peregrine Hart can be reached via email at peregrineh@unr.edu or on Instagram @pintofperegrine.
