During last week’s ASUSF Senate weekly meeting, Senate met with Senior Director of Public Safety Dan Lawson, as well as new candidates for vacant and at-large senate positions prior to elections.
Lawson, discussed a few new safety devices to be implemented on campus. He revealed that Public Safety has been working with the city to install a beacon light. The new light will serve as a flashing warning to caution vehicles when students are crossing the street.
Senate agreed that the beacon’s prospective location should be on Turk Street and Roselyn Terrace, across from the new Lone Mountain dorms. This particular street has heavy foot traffic, with students going between classes and walking to and from the dorms. Lawson also mentioned details from a prior conversation about purchasing and staffing new shuttles. Due to current issues with staffing and budgets, the Department of Public Safety only has three shuttles in use.
Additionally, Lawson laid out possible future plans for his department’s presence on campus in reference to the student-led movement to disarm Public Safety Officers and reduce patrolling of dorm buildings. This issue was addressed by a Senate resolution in September 2020.
“My vision has been and currently is to listen to the students,” said Lawson. “We are looking at options currently of having one armed officer on campus but not visible unless there was an emergency and then having two unarmed officers that will rotate over 3-4 days.”
Afterwards, ASUSF Vice President of Finance Berklee Jimenez led a discussion and vote over funding for the Model UN’s trip to Washington D.C. for the NCSC XLIX Georgetown Model United Nations Conference. The funding would include travel and boarding costs for 12 Model UN students and will require proof of vaccination. Senate moved to approve the budget totaling $6,009.
With student representative elections taking place, a few applicants introduced themselves to Senate. Running for the freshmen class representative position, both Anagh Shetty, a finance-business analytics double major, and Julia Noel, a entrepreneurship major, were present at the meeting. Other candidates for the position include Akhnoor Sidhu and Rahul Pratap.
At-large applicant Jasleen Dhillon introduced herself and her plans as a prospective Sikh Student Representative for Senate. Dhillon, a biology major, is the co-founder of the Sikh Student Association on campus. As a Sikh Student Representative, Dhillon expressed her goals of educating people on everything happening in the Sikh community. Her initiatives included addressing the prevalence of hate crime within Sikh and Punjabi communities. She also wants to pass a resolution for religious accommodation for Sikh students during holidays and standing in solidarity with Indian farmers during the farmers strike. Senate will vote for approval of Dhillon’s position at next week’s meeting.
Senate concluded their meeting and brainstormed possible topics of discussion for the first ASUSF Town Hall taking place Oct. 27.
ASUSF Senate holds meetings every Wednesday from 5–7 p.m. via Zoom.
Annika Dahlberg is a junior nursing major and is both a general assignment reporter and deputy news editor at the Foghorn. She has previously covered McCarthy Center events and Provost-related breaking news. She can be reached at adahlberg@sffoghorn.com or on Twitter @___akinna.
