Last Tuesday marked the first time that Associated Students, Incorporated (ASI) would bring the Resolution of No Confidence in President William Covino to the Academic Senate this semester.
ASI has been working with a student and community organization known as the Golden Eagle Justice Coalition since late February to develop a plan to take President Covino, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Lynn Mahoney, and Vice Provost for Enrollment Services Tom Enders out of office. These actions against the top Cal State LA administrators are based on the admissions impaction proposal that was implemented earlier this semester.
After gathering more than 1,000 signatures, the coalition came to ASI with their Resolution of No Confidence to have it voted on and passed on to the Academic Senate. On Friday, March 29, the resolution passed through ASI and was set to continue on to the Academic Senate, though miscommunications caused setbacks on becoming an official agenda item.
On Tuesday, April 23, the ASI board, along with the Golden Eagle Justice Coalition, attended the Academic Senate meeting to ask the senators to vote on adding the Resolution of No Confidence in President Covino as an agenda item, or in this case, a first reading item. As a first reading item, the resolution would only be discussed and would be voted on during the next Academic Senate meeting on May 7.
ASI President Nia Johnson addressed the senate to speak on the resolution’s behalf.
“This resolution is brought to you by students that many of you helped developed. Many of you taught us leadership and bravery and the value of using our voices to speak out against misconduct,” said Johnson.
The Academic Senate voted in agreement to place the Resolution of No Confidence in President Covino as a discussion item to then be voted on during their next meeting on May 7. Though the agenda was set, the Golden Eagle Justice Coalition wanted to speak on the resolution’s behalf to further the time for discussion.
“We asked our reps to present this as a first reading item because we wanted to make sure that everybody on this senate heard every single student here,” said Daniel Mayen, a Golden Eagle Justice Coalition member. “We want them to know what they’re going to vote on, and how we feel about what they’re going to have to vote on.”
After a number of students voiced their concerns, tension between the senators and the students caused enough of an uproar for the Academic Senate Chair, Veena Prabhu, to abruptly adjourn the meeting.
Immediately, the Golden Eagle Justice Coalition began blocking the exits in a failed attempt to keep the senators in to continue the discussion and possibly vote the resolution into an action item.
After the chaos of the adjourned meeting settled, the coalition instead held a roundtable to discuss the next steps on pushing the resolution through as an action item. The final decision was to schedule a forum for Tuesday, April 30 where student organizers and Academic Senators will be welcome to discuss the issue and listen to students voice their opinions.
The Resolution of No Confidence is scheduled to be voted on at the next Academic Senate meeting on Tuesday, May 7.
