January 14, 2026

Minutes

Call to order - 2:36 PM

Roll call - all senators here

Approval of minutes - 2:36 PM

• motion to approve by Fran
• Seconded by Suyash

Public comments 

Advisor announcements - 2:36 PM

• Dennis: we need to finalize info sessions, debates, complaint meeting
  • Need to get marketing/promotion out ASAP
  • Student meetings -> go to them
  • Try to get more people from underrepresented communities to join the Senate somehow
  • Has access to last year’s academic material
  • Timings not confirmed yet; will be discussed today
  • Info sessions: at least 1 on a mon/wed, at least 1 on tues/thurs
• Gabe needs to fill out info Dennis requested

Shared governance reports - 2:40 PM

• none

Intern projects - 2:40 PM

• Suyash - motion to table for next meeting since no interns are present
  • Seconded by Fran

Election timeline - 2:40 PM

• Sessions
  • Fran: times = Mon 4-5, Thurs 4-5
    • Dates chosen (refer to times): 22nd, 29th, Feb 2
  • Suyash: times = 12:30-1:30 Mon/Wed or 11:30-12:30 Tues/Thurs
    • Dates chosen (refer to times): 21st, 26th, 28th
  • Physical and online marketing
    • Posters all over campus since not everyone may go to the cafeteria
    • James will send a marketing request
    • Can even have senators ask for 2-5 minutes at the beginning or end of classes they’re already in so they can let folks know
    • Announcement next senate meeting
• Election cert + complaint meetings -> Mar 6 starting @ 12:30 pm
  • Tend to go for 2-6 hours, so best choice is Fridays
  • Nobody has class the next day, so we can go as late as 9 pm if needed
  • Start time - noon -> end at 3-4 and continue it to the next week if needed
  • Date
  • Last day of voting = March 4th; Friday after = March 6th
  • Appeals will be handled by Senate
  • Last regular Senate meeting = March 11th (regularly scheduled meeting)
• Debate
  • Already finalized
  • Conf room A+B
  • Suyash’s Bday(?) wooo 🎉
• Candidate orientation
  • Feb 4
  • If a candidate cannot make the meeting, they will have to arrange with us to have a personal orientation

Reviewing the Elections Posting Guidelines - 3:05 PM

• A couple minor changes have been made since last quarter (just so nobody will nitpick)
  • Do not write or draw on walls…
  • Do not post on any signs or plaques
  • Maximum size added A4 size paper
  • Do not post in any manner that you could hurt yourself
• Add a height limit (you cannot post anything up ___ high)?
  • Suyash: not worth regulating the height, since it’s left up to interpretation (this is the ground no this is the ground, etc. etc.)
  • Was never in the guidelines; it was a proposed change that will not go through
• Campaign material can only be placed by students? Also leaves it up to interpretation
  • Covered by the elections code rule saying that students cannot utilize campus resources (printing, tables, etc.)
• Appropriate use vs no use of AI
  • Admin senators unanimously agree that the rule should be no use of AI vs appropriate use
  • Translation is fine, because it’ll never pop up on any detector -> it’s not much of an equity issue
  • Fran: we cannot write “appropriate” because it needs to be specific and enforceable
  • AI detectors are unreliable; someone who did not use AI but got flagged would have to be disqualified if we went just by numbers.
  • Hyon Chu: We want you to campaign as a person
  • Suyash + Shreya - AI detectors are pretty much impossible to use reliably, so we have two extremes
  • Regulate exorbitant use (something blatantly ChatGPT generated)
  • Pass it to senate, who will allow any AI use -> anyone can use and abuse it, so we won’t be able to ban exorbitant use 
  • Dennis’ counterargument: saying “no AI” could lead to people putting statements into unreliable AI detectors, leading to many complaints -> don’t even mention AI

Prospective intern intro - 3:25 PM

• Maddie, mechanical engineering major, wants to join because the work here seems interesting

Adjournment - 3:26 PM

Attendance

• Senators - all here
• Interns - Devang, Shreya
• Prospective interns - Maddie

Note for next year: make sure to have the winter quarter info sessions and other election-related stuff planned during fall quarter, so that winter quarter sessions can focus solely on promotion