Senator's Message An Instant Humiliation

It never would have happened without wireless Internet.

With the freeze on ASUC Senate business finally lifted after a recent Judicial Council decision, an inadvertently sent Instant Message brought senators to a boiling point during their 12-hour meeting Wednesday night.

"Shut up, you underrepresented bitch," Student Action Senator Devin Andre typed on a laptop computer into an AOL Instant Message window after his roommate, Robert Kaufman, was rejected for a vacant Judicial Council seat.

Student Action Senator Christine Lee's quick, accidental click of the enter key on the laptop sent the message across the chambers to CalSERVE Senator Olivia Layug.

Tensions flared as senators immediately railed Andre.

"For your anger to come out in a manner of sexism and racism is wrong," CalSERVE Senator Bahar Khanjari said to Andre.

CalSERVE Senator Peter Gee stormed out, returning teary-eyed.

"I'm very troubled, but am not really surprised by this because that's the world we live in," he said.

Andre quickly apologized to other senators.

"My writing did not have any reason to be sent," Andre said. "I was just extremely angry."

His remark came after one and half hours of argument about Kaufman.

For two months, three judicial council slots have remained open.

And three nominations have been repeatedly rejected-Andre's roommate, ASUC President Kris Cuaresma-Primm's fraternity brother and a former writer for the Cal Patriot-all for charges of bias.

But two other seats, the attorney general slot and a student position on the ASUC Store Operations Board, were finally filled after hours of debates and weeks of rejections this semester.

"The nightmare is finally over," said APPLE Senator Misha Leybovich after the senate appointed Ryan Powell, an ASUC outsider, to the attorney general's seat.

A thorn in the senate's side for weeks, the seat is supposed to be filled by the sixth week.

But senators overlooked the deadline only to later face a Judicial Council ruling that voided business since the deadline.

More than 100 bills had to be reconsidered. Senators plowed through 32 bills until 6:30 a.m. The remaining bills were automatically approved because they were on the consent calendar.

Having allocated almost all their funds yesterday, senators have only $400 left in the bank for the rest of the year.

Graduate Assembly President Jessica Quindel finally scrounged up enough votes to fill the vacant Graduate Assembly seat on the Store Operations Board.

For weeks, Quindel, accompanied by a band of graduate student supporters, pleaded with the senate for the seat.

Last year, she served on the board for a full year without senate approval.

But her reappointment was barred because some senators feared Quindel's push for a code of ethics in The Daily Californian's lease over the summer would jeopardize the newspaper's on-campus location and $60,000 in annual rent.

"I'm sick of turning down what the GA wants just because we can," Leybovich said.

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