California State University, Dominguez Hills’ Associated Student Inc. (ASI) held a meeting primarily on Filipino rights and housing struggles on campus. Photo by Iracema Navarro

By Melanie Gerner, Staff Reporter

Dateline: ASI BOD Meeting 10/09/2020

ASI Board supports Filipino Human Rights Act 

Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) expressed its intention of support for the first draft of a resolution supporting the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) and Senate Bill H.R.8313. 

According to supporters of the PHRA, the Filipino government and military are violating human rights and U.S. dollars should cease to fund them. CSUDH is home to hundreds of Filipino and Filipino American students, faculty and staff. Pilipinx and Pilipinx-American students at CSUDH have formed a student-led working group to promote the PHRA. 

Janelle Viray, University Advisement Center (UAC) retention specialist, gave background on the subject and discussed how the Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte and his regime are creating “anti-terrorism” laws that, in reality, legalize surveillance and violence against protestors and opposing politicians. 

In cooperation with  Pagsikapan- PASC, a Pilipinx-American Student Community at CSUDH, workshops and a social media campaign are in the works to promote and educate the CSUDH community about the PHRA. 

While there are no set dates for PHRA events and workshops, information can be found on the PASC Instagram.

CSUDH Housing struggles with decreased income 

CSUDH housing is being forced to make some difficult decisions about the future of beds on campus. Decisions about demolitions, repairs and new construction.

Last academic year,  housing dipped into reserves to make repairs to existing buildings. At the time, it was expected that housing would see an income of $7 to $9 million this year. According to Dr. Matthew Smith, interim associate vice president of Student Life and Dean of Students, because of COVID-19, housing has 90 to 100 students on campus and only around $1 million in reported income were received. 

Smith asked ASI to be ready to advocate for students and campus housing costs through fundraising efforts and advocacy at a statewide level. 

Smith wants to keep housing costs low to maintain enrollment and retention, but knows support will be needed on and off campus to keep costs manageable for CSUDH students. Smith was scheduled to meet with President Parham on Oct. 9, to discuss these matters and will return to the ASI with a more detailed update at a future meeting.

In other news, the ASI:

• Were presented on the Toro Learning and Testing Center (TLTC), by Rosa Heckenburg, Interim director of the TLTC
  • TLTC will begin hiring students for Spring 2021 in the next two weeks
  • TLTC hires 90 students per year: 40 tutors, 45 supplemental instructors and 8 student assistants
  • Net Tutor is the TLTC’s new 24-hour chat-based tutoring platform, accessible via Blackboard
• Hired new KDHR intern
  • Cameron Thomas, a volunteer host of KDHR’s Morning HotBox, looks forward to to the internship supporting his career as a media professional
• Heard Ken O’Donnell, vice provost, share how to best interpret the class schedule for spring 2021
  • Meeting time TBA means the class is asynchronous and students are not required to attend
  • Meeting time fixed with specified times listed means students are required to attend.
  • Internet and alternative designations both mean online only.
  • Blake Anger agreed to create a YouTube video with O’Donnell explaining the correct way to read the schedule and what each designation means for students in real life.
• Heard Ivan Lopez, Program Assistant – Social Media and Marketing, share the state of ASI social media
  • Shared two new hashtags for the board to use
    • #WeAreASI 
    • #ImAToro

ASI meeting dates, agendas, minutes and recordings are available at http://asicsudh.com/meetings/bod/