Greetings from your new senator!

Having attended the first two ASUW Senate meetings of session XIV, I have news about which to write. The first meeting was primarily introductory; the only business of note to the club at large is that we need, sometime in the near future, to submit a list of signatures which prove this club to be the titanic force in campus affairs which we all know it to be. I would encourage everyone, at their earliest convenience, to visit our office, S31, in the sub-basement of the HUB during office hours to add your name to the roll of esteemed and honorable club members whom I have the pleasure to represent.

The second meeting, however, was somewhat more productive. The officers of the Senate, in an iron-fisted show of authoritarian despotism, forced through a resolution, supposedly to teach the newer senators a lesson. The various underhanded techniques used to pass R-14-1 included collusion to monopolize the speakers’ list, a refusal by the chair to hear objections, and fraudulent reporting of vote tallies. Great fun was had by all. In spite of this travesty of the legislative process, the results will be quite tasty, and I supported R-14-1: A Resolution in Support of Cake.

We then moved on to more serious matters, aside from an impromptu simultaneous performance of two pushups and a handstand by a friend of Jon Solomon (names will become more frequent and accurate in these reports as I learn them). We considered R-14-2: A Resolution Reaffirming the Support of National Coming Out Day (which unfortunately, has at the time of this writing been confused with the aforementioned R-14-1 on the Senate web site). It was decided, given the time sensitivity of the resolution (National Coming Out Day is October 11), to suspend the rules and proceed to second readings on this resolution, where after some debate it passed. Also dealt with during this meeting were nominations for standing committee chairs and committee liaisons. I nominated myself for liaison to the Special Appropriations Committee, which handles direct monetary disbursements to student organizations.

All resolutions mentioned in these reports are available at http://senate.asuw.org.

Feel free to let me know your opinions and give me feedback; my e-mail address is snowg@u.washington.edu, and my office hour is 12:00 to 1:00 on Wednesdays, although I frequently show up a half-hour earlier. I encourage you to attend my office hour, both to sign our form for Senate seat renewal and to provide relief from the interminable boredom that is human existence holding an office hour. Specific to this meeting, I would appreciate the following:

• Your opinions on moving directly from first to second readings (translation: introducing legislation in the same session that we vote on it, giving me no time to elicit opinions),
• Your opinions on R-14-2: A Resolution Reaffirming the Support of National Coming Out Day; in spite of this legislation having already passed, I would like to know whether I accurately gauged the group’s stance on this issue,
• Your stances on cake, good recipes for cake, or samples of actual delicious, delicious cake,
• Suggestions for committee chair positions or liaison positions that I should run for.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Your Senator, Gareth Snow