DASB senators argue over dissolution of tech committee, endorsing Measure B

The DASB senate debated over whether to endorse Measure B, abolish the Technology Committee and whether they should hold a retreat trip to bond with one another.
The DASB voted to not endorse Measure B Wednesday. Measure B would increase sales tax by half a percent, and use the revenue to fix local roads, make VTA transit routes more accessible, add on to the Light Rail System and make biking and pedestrian trails safer and more comprehensive.
Over the course of an hour and thirty minutes of debating, the Senate voiced their concerns, primarily regarding the effectivity of the measure, and the the fact that the the money was coming from a sales tax.
“Another concern I have is why we’re not being more progressive and focusing on Google, Apple or any of the corporations with loads of money,” said Executive Vice President Stephanie Rigsby. Senior associate for Transportation and Housing from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Chris O’Connor, was in attendance to respond to the senate’s concerns, and advocate for Measure B, along with a member of the Foothill Voting Senate.
Foothill College voted to endorse Measure B.
“We were trying to get every single student government in the county on board. De Anza will be the only one who decided not to join,” O’Connor said. “So it’s unfortunate, but we’re confident that students at De Anza will be supporting the measure.”
During the Oct. 26 meeting, Senate Vice President Stephanie Rigsby and Chair of Administration Indu Kundam also proposed to dissolve the Technology Committee, presenting the case that the committee was not living up to its responsibilities, and that the committee only had two members, both of whom the Senate leadership considered inactive due to their lack of results.
This led to a half hour long debate with Chair of Technology, Mohammad Tabrizi and various other members of the senate.“Any project that the tech committee does takes a long time to do,” Kundum said. “Why keep a committee that can’t do its own projects?”
Tabrizi responded with a list of projects the committee was currently working on, including getting the senate its own website and installing CCTV cameras on campus to aid police officers.
The cameras took three months to find before they were purchased, as Tabrizi was looking for the cheapest available.
His defense was met with harsh criticism by Senator Holly Long, as well as other members such as Chair of Environmental Stability, Chi Tran, and De Anza Student Trustee Elias Kamal.
“Wow, you bought cameras in three months. What about the website? It’s so easy,” Tran said. “How can I expect you to finish huge projects?” The sentiment was shared by Long and Kamal, who both mentioned that simply intending to finish projects was not satisfactory.
Long added that the Administration Committee can buy a cheap vacuum and not expect the same praise for the cameras Tabrizi mentioned, eliciting laughter from senate members.
The Senate then voted to shut down the Technology Committee, as they only had two members.
The DASB also discussed who should be sent to the General Assembly, a statewide convention for community college senates in California.
The biggest obstacle was deciding how many senators to send. Senators ignored repeated requests from President Matthew Zarate, who asked the senate to move forward with their choices as the debate spiraled. Eventually, the senate agreed to send four of its members to General Assembly, senators Kundam, Tran, Ola Elatta and Dara Streit.
Later in the meeting, the Senate scrapped plans for a bonding retreat that was being organized after significant interpersonal issues made themselves present at previous meetings.
Rigsby had previously suggested the senate rent a cabin in Lake Tahoe and stay there a weekend in hopes of bettering communication and interpersonal skills, but it was discovered that they were not allowed to travel that far because Lake Tahoe is not in their district.