No Resolution Reached on ASUC Senate Divestment Bill

[oberliner]

After deliberating in closed session last night over ASUC President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of a bill urging the University of California to divest from companies that supplied Israel with materials used in alleged war crimes, the ASUC Senate failed to come to a consensus on whether or not to submit a new bill with similar objectives.

After moving into a closed session for discussion at 8:40 p.m., senators discussed the bill and the motion to override Smelko's veto for more than two hours before returning to an open session and ultimately deciding to submit a new bill that could be placed on this week's agenda and referred to a committee where it would be considered on Monday. But the senators could not come to a consensus and the bill was not added to the agenda.

Emiliano Vaughn-Huet and Tom Pessah--co-authors of the original bill--submitted a new bill at 12:35 a.m., but several senators wanted to discuss the new bill before voting to place it on this week's agenda. Student Action Senator and President-elect Noah Stern said at the meeting he was opposed to placing the new bill on the agenda because it violated procedural rules that state any bills being introduced to the senate must be submitted by Tuesday.

The meeting continued with multiple recesses and another hour-long discussion of the new bill, but several senators still had reservations about the content of the bill.

Student Action Senator Nhu Nhu Nguyen said at the meeting she supports the half of the bill that calls for divestment, but that she could not support the other half.

"The issue is the specificity of the bill," she said at the meeting. "I agree with all the things that call for divestment, but the specificity is something I cannot agree with."

http://www.dailycal.org/article/109215/no_resolution_reached_on_asuc_senate_divestment_bi