DASB Senate expels senator, dissolves Tech Committee

The DASB Senate voted 19-0 in favor of expelling Senator Mohammad Tabrizi, the chair of the Technology Committee during their Nov. 9 meeting.

DASB President Matthew Zarate said Tabrizi had “no record of basic tasks as a student senator, such as office hours, field hours, external committee membership, that were performed consecutively throughout the quarter.”

“Tabrizi was upset,” said Zarate.

Zarate said the first initial vote to dissolve the Technology Committee was presented two weeks prior, and in last week’s meeting, “the second and final vote was conducted. The vote was eventually passed and all technology duties will be forwarded to our marketing division.”

Zarate said the action stemmed from “claims of the technology committee being unproductive.”

“Although productivity in the student senate is always ‘low’ due to travel during summer, the technology committee continued its productivity rate,” he said.

Members of the committee included Indu Kundam, Faris Waitesa, Chung Heng Lee and Matthew Zarate.

“Faris Waitesa, Indu Kundam and I left the committee early October after witnessing the chair of the committee clash with one of our advisors,” Zarate said.

Student Trustee Elias Kamal brought up that $23 million dollars will be spent on the new district office. The money is said to be going to enhance office space and utilities for district staff.

Kamal also discussed the EcoPass, which is a service that enables students to use VTA buses for the quarter after paying a small fee.

“We were informed by San Jose State students from their Transportation Office that the Metropolitan Transportation Committee is considering incurring a fee on all new EcoPasses distributed to students at the participating colleges,” Kamal said.

“They are considering doing so because the EcoPass program has grown to reach thousands of students across multiple campuses since it began in 2011 at De Anza. The new fee would be $3.”

DASB Marketing also announced it began working on brochures and business cards.

“Each term has their own customized brochure and cards. Faris has done a great job as chair of marketing,” Zarate said. “This year, it’s important for us to have these because I know … students would need advice on how to go about a certain challenge.”

The meeting was concluded with a vote on resolutions that would be deliberated at General Assembly, which is a meeting for the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, including an adjustment of the finance code, and an update given by Zarate about the elections committee and their progress so far.