Stefan Elgstrand/Courtesy

After two years of planning, some students are raising concerns about the ASUC-sponsored Berkeley redistricting map because the proposed student district excludes Northside residences, including nine Berkeley student housing cooperatives and three residence halls.

Stefan Elgstrand, a UC Berkeley senior and an intern for Councilmember Kriss Worthington since June, has introduced the United Student District Amendment, a proposal that includes Northside residences.

While both the ASUC map and the USDA aim to create a student-majority district to help elect a student representative to Berkeley City Council, proponents of each disagree on how to best represent interests of students and city residents.

Currently, Elgstrand is rallying support for his amendment prior to the City Council meeting on Sept. 10, when the council will continue discussing redistricting.

The ASUC-sponsored Berkeley Student District Campaign map started as a campaign platform for 2011-12 ASUC external affairs vice president Joey Freeman, a Student Action candidate.

The BSDC map creates a student district that encompasses Southside housing, the Greek community and the residence halls, with a 90 percent student population. The map is detailed in ASUC Senate Bill 65, which passed unanimously in the spring of 2013.

“The fact that this (amendment) was introduced so late is really difficult to deal with,” said ASUC External Affairs Vice President Safeena Mecklai of the proposed amendment, which she said the ASUC team has not agreed to. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with it going forward unless the senate endorses it.”

After the BSDC map was submitted in mid-March, Worthington questioned its inclusivity and motivated Elgstrand to draft an amendment.

“The BSDC people mostly live in the fraternities and sororities, so there’s a bit of a bias in that,” Elgstrand said. “From my perspective, since I’m not connected to any of those groups, I can make it more inclusive.”

Proponents say the BSDC map has received support from the Greek community, Cal Berkeley Democrats, Berkeley College Republicans, all 20 ASUC 2012-13 senators and some leaders of the Berkeley Student Cooperative, including ASUC Senator Jorge Pacheco, who is endorsed by the co-ops.

Now, other leaders in the BSC are reconsidering their stances, saying that the BSDC map underrepresents Northside housing. They are giving preference to the USDA proposal, which Elgstrand says includes 87.4 percent of the cooperative population, while the BSDC map only includes 38.1 percent.

“If the intention is to create a unified student district, then not including Northside dorms and co-ops seems to leave out an important population of students,” said Michelle Nacouzi, the 2013-14 president of the BSC.

Nacouzi and other members of the BSC said they were told that it was not feasible to include Northside co-ops in a student-majority district.

Noah Efron, the ASUC redistricting director and local affairs deputy, said the BSDC made several efforts to include the input of student groups by inviting leaders from the BSC, the Greek community and the residence halls to participate in public forums about the plan.

Despite their differences, both Elgstrand and Mecklai said they would prefer to maintain a unified student voice in demanding a student district. However, the ASUC will continue to support the BSDC map without changes to include Northside residences, while Elgstrand plans to push forward his amended plan.

Contact Saachi Makkar at smakkar@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article stated that the district proposed by the ASUC represents 90 percent of the student population, defined as residents between ages 18 to 29. In fact, it represents 86 percent of the student population.

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Stefan Elgstrand/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council moved toward approving a new redistricting map at its meeting Tuesday by passing a motion supporting the ASUC-sponsored redistricting map.

The Berkeley Student District Campaign map would create a student-majority district south of the UC Berkeley campus, increasing the chances of a student representative being elected to Berkeley City Council. Final approval of a districting map is expected to be made in September.

By passing the motion, the council also diverted attention from two other plans, the Edge Simplicity Plan and an amended ASUC plan called the United Student District Amendment, proposed at Tuesday’s meeting.

The BSDC map continues to receive support from most council members. At the meeting, however, an amendment was introduced that would change the borders of the planned student-majority district to include more student residences, such as cooperative houses, residence halls and International House. The USDA amendment was proposed by Stefan Elgstrand, a UC Berkeley student and intern for Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

Elgstrand’s main concern with BSDC’s proposal is that it does not include students who reside on Northside, which includes nine co-op houses and three dormitories. Elgstrand said he is concerned for those students.

“They are paying thousands of dollars to be living in these areas, so they should at least have a voice in the local government,” he said.

Safeena Mecklai, ASUC external affairs vice president and a representative for the BSDC map, said that her primary goal is to make sure students are represented on the council and not necessarily to support the exact BSDC map.

“We’re in favor of any map that puts forward a student district, that works with the political process and that protects student interests,” Mecklai said. “If students feel that the map represents them, that’s a good thing.”

Several council members, however, said that the proposal of a new plan upsets the political integrity of the redistricting process.

“I feel uncomfortable for having this happen at the very last minute when it could have happened sooner,” said Councilmember Linda Maio at the meeting. “All of these plans went through a public process out in the community.”

Councilmember Kriss Worthington opposed the negative sentiment regarding the new amendment.

“The purpose of a public process is to hear ideas,” he said. “We received new information today that was never provided at previous meetings.”

The council ultimately passed a motion in support of the BSDC proposal with a vote of 7 to 2.

Mayor Tom Bates placed emphasis on the fact that the newly created district will not include all students but will geographically encompass several residential areas surrounding the Berkeley campus.

“I think that I’m planning on supporting the student district (BSDC proposal),” Bates said. “I just don’t want to call it a student district — I want to call it a campus district.”

The council will meet Sept. 10 to continue considering redistricting proposals.

Contact Saachi Makkar at smakkar@dailycal.org

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The ASUC Judicial Council has found External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai not guilty of alleged bylaw violations due to a lack of sufficient evidence in an opinion released Tuesday.

CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais LaVoie filed five charges against Mecklai in April for distribution of campaign literature in residence halls, solicitation in the dining commons and explicit disobedience of residence hall staff directives.

LaVoie accused Mecklai of cheating, citing that the “margin of victory in her election can plausibly be enumerated as the number of votes gained through illegal campaigning.”

Four of the five petitions against Mecklai were dismissed by the council due to insufficient evidence and witness testimonies. The council then reviewed Mecklai in a hearing on May 2 for one charge of solicitation in the dining commons of a resident hall and evaluated an oral and written testimony from resident assistant Jasmine Verret.

According to the opinion, the written testimony from Verret cited Mecklai “not campaigning but definitely soliciting” multiple tables of students in Cafe 3.

However, while the written testimony suggested multiple incidents of solicitation, Verret’s oral testimony only referenced one specific incident, and the council therefore ruled that the witness’s collective testimony did not meet “the standard of clear and convincing evidence.”

The council chose to evaluate case evidence individually rather than holistically because four of the charges were dismissed before the hearing. Although the evidence presented appeared to “establish a pattern of intent,” the council ultimately ruled that the evidence against Mecklai was insufficient in charging her and found her not guilty on all five charges.

If the council had taken a holistic approach, the opinion states that there would have been “sufficient evidence and testimony to charge (Mecklai) with at least, but not limited to one censure.”

“While I’m disappointed that we lost the case by such a close ruling of 5 to 3, I’m confident that the act of pursuing elections violations this year will clean up elections in the future,” LaVoie said in an email.

Mecklai said she felt relieved by the results of the trial.

“I’m glad it’s over, and I’m trying to keep my head up,” Mecklai said. “I’ve always said that I’m not a partisan person, and I want to maintain that and not let this affect that going forward.”

LaVoie v Mecklai Official Judicial Council Direct Judgment (PDF)

LaVoie v Mecklai Official Judicial Council Direct Judgment (Text)

Contact Jacob Brown at jbrown@dailycal.org. Contact Jennie Yoon at jyoon@dailycal.org

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City of Berkeley/Courtesy

Berkeley City Council passed a motion Tuesday night to continue considering two redistricting proposals that both include the creation of a UC Berkeley student district.

One of the selected plans was submitted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, a group that aims to give students more representation in city government through the creation of a district with a student supermajority. A student supermajority would increase the likelihood of a UC Berkeley student being elected to Berkeley City Council.

“It’s important to note how historic of a move the council took last night (by) indicating that one of their top proposals is one submitted by students,” said Shahryar Abbasi, ASUC external affairs vice president. “It’s quite a shift in the discourse and the dialogue.”

About 45 UC Berkeley students, including Abbasi, attended the City Council meeting in support of the campaign. While seven different plans were considered at the public hearing Tuesday night, only two did not include a student-majority district.

The only remaining competition to the Berkeley Student District Campaign is the “simplicity” plan, which focuses on straightforward district divisions. The plan’s author, Eric Panzer, openly endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan and said that he hopes his proposal will be considered only as a “worthy alternative.”

The City Council may favor Panzer’s plan due to its clarity, according to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Redistricting Director Noah Efron.

“There are certainly some council members who want clean lines on their map,” Efron said. “The council still has full control.”

Throughout the hearing, multiple City Council members expressed their support for a student-majority district, which has never existed in the city of Berkeley. The only UC Berkeley student to ever hold a seat on the City Council was current State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, who served from 1984 to 1992.

The plans were made possible by the passage of Measure R last November, which amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai, a student district would allow students a say in major city issues like safety, economic development and other issues that impact students and residents equally.
“I think we would benefit from more voices of young people,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin last night. “It accomplishes the goal but keeps a lot of major neighborhoods intact.”

The next public hearing, during which the City Council is slated to select a plan, will be on July 2.

Though the meeting will take place during the summer, Mecklai said the campaign plans to build a coalition of students to attend and express their support.

“We certainly took (last night) as a great victory, and it certainly feels more tangible now than it ever has,” Efron said. “(But) until we hear that they have officially adopted it, we won’t be celebrating.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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The ASUC Judicial Council backtracked on its previous decision to approve a settlement of charges against controversial divestment bill SB 160 on Saturday.

On Friday, the Judicial Council voted in favor of the settlement, which would have removed clauses that petitioners had said were unconstitutional. They alleged that the bill had not been approved by the appropriate ASUC committees and was not passed by the necessary two-thirds vote.

The settlement removed any clauses that required the ASUC to divest its funds from companies associated with the Israeli military. The Judicial Council’s latest decision means the parts of the bill that were removed will be restored.

The original charges will now go to trial, and the Judicial Council will rule on the validity of the charges. The trial is scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m. at a location to be determined.

In an email obtained by The Daily Californian, Judicial Council Chief Justice Suneeta Israni said the settlement was reversed because the negotiators did not have the authority to modify a previously passed bill. According to the email, the original decision to accept the settlement was based on the impression that 11 senators officially voted to pass the post-settlement version of the bill.  In reality, that figure came only from a straw poll taken by ASUC Attorney General Hinh Tran, the chief negotiator in the settlement, to gauge support for reaching the settlement.

The Judicial Council issued a gag order around 8 p.m. Saturday, demanding silence on the case from all parties involved. Last Monday, the Council also issued a gag order on the case surrounding alleged election law violations by External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai. According to a high-ranking official within the ASUC, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action, gag orders have traditionally only been used to protect witnesses and defendants from possibly injurious information before a decision has been made.

However, the Judicial Council’s Rules of Procedure do not clarify or limit the circumstances under which the Council can issue such an order.

Two ASUC officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the gag order, were sharply critical — even angered — at what they called the Council’s freehanded use of the gag orders, which the officials said was an overreach of the Council’s authority.

In an email sent to Israni before the gag order took effect, SQUELCH! party chair and former Daily Cal columnist Noah Ickowitz expressed his displeasure with the Judicial Council’s handling of the case as well as the decision to rescind the settlement.

“I need to express my deep sadness in both your procedure and transparency,” Ickowitz told Israni in the email. “The whirlwind of having so many verdicts in the span of 24 hours has taken a toll on me and I believe has tarnished my vision of a system I used to appreciate.”

Neither Israni nor Associate Justice Stephanie Chamberlain could be reached for comment for this story.

Like with the case surrounding the health and wellness referendum, the Judicial Council planned to decide the SB 160 case by summary judgement, in which the council can make a decision without the participation of involved parties and without hearing oral argument. According to the Rules of Procedure, the council may issue a summary judgement “in the extreme event the Council does not believe a hearing will provide any substance to the controversy brought to its attention.”

The council eventually reversed its intention to issue a summary judgement, reverting to the original plan to hold a trial.

Contact Jeremy Gordon at jgordon@dailycal.org.

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The gag and restraining orders were lifted on Saturday. Previously, Mecklai, along with CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais LaVoie — who filed the charges — and all other witnesses named in the petition, could not publicly comment on the investigation or its proceedings. On Saturday, the Judicial Council voted to remove the restrictions.

According to the Judicial Council’s rules of procedure, “a Gag Order may be issued by any Justice at any time a Justice believes the situation merits such an order. Once a Gag Order has been issued, the parties involved with the matter may not discuss the matter publicly, or with individuals not directly involved in the matter.”

In April, LaVoie filed charges against Mecklai alleging she violated ASUC Constitution bylaws during the recent ASUC elections. The charges include explicit disobedience of residence hall staff directives, distribution of campaign literature in the residence halls, solicitation in the dining commons and solicitation in the residence halls, according to the hearing brief.

LaVoie asked that the Judicial Council assign Mecklai 15 campaign censures, which would disqualify her from holding office as ASUC external affairs vice president.

Contact Jacob Brown at jbrown@dailycal.org

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In April, CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais LaVoie filed charges against Mecklai for allegedly violating ASUC Constitution bylaws during the recent ASUC elections. The charges include explicit disobedience of residence hall staff directives, distribution of campaign literature in the residence halls, solicitation in the dining commons and solicitation in the residence halls, according to the hearing brief.

After the charges were filed, the case was automatically deferred to the attorney general’s office per ASUC protocol, said ASUC Judicial Council Chair Suneeta Israni. The attorney general’s office is responsible for conducting investigations of alleged bylaw violations of the ASUC Constitution.

Attorney General Hinh Tran determined Monday that there was not enough evidence for the case to move forward, citing a lack of witness response in the investigation.

“One witness decided not to participate, one witness indicated he did not consent to have his testimony included in the investigation and two other witnesses failed to respond after I made multiple attempts to contact them,” Tran said.

Tran said that he did not feel confident moving forward with his investigation because the allegations could not be substantiated by the witnesses themselves.

Although Tran’s office has decided not to move forward with the investigation, LaVoie has made it clear that she will proceed with the charges, Tran said.

LaVoie asked that the Judicial Council assign Mecklai 15 campaign censures, which would disqualify her from holding office as ASUC External Affairs Vice President.

In addition to a lack of witness participation, Tran said he uncovered additional problems with LaVoie’s petition during the course of his investigation.

“A witness’ testimony was included in her petition, but the witness had already expressed that they did not want their testimony included in the investigation,” Tran said.

He added that only his office, the witness and one other organization has access to that information, and he didn’t know how it was included in the petition. That information should not have been available to LaVoie, Tran said.

The Judicial Council is scheduled to hear the case against Mecklai on Thursday at 8 p.m. in Slottman Hall in Unit 1. But with a lack of participation from the attorney general’s office, Tran said he doubts that LaVoie’s case will be successful.

“For me, the case is not strong enough to get a conviction,” Tran said, “but maybe other witnesses will come forward for LaVoie.”

Mecklai, LaVoie and all the other witnesses named in the petition are currently under gag order and could not comment for this article.

Contact Matt Trejo at mtrejo@dailycal.org.

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Six groups presented the council with seven different plans for redistricting, one of which was made by the Berkeley Student District Campaign in an attempt to create a student supermajority district. UC Berkeley junior and current redistricting director Noah Efron, senior Michael Manset and junior and ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai all presented for the BSDC.

Representatives of the BSDC said in the meeting that because the student community is currently divided into four districts, it is difficult for students to have their voices heard on the council. A student supermajority district would allow students to be represented on City Council.

“Twenty-five percent of Berkeley residents are students and they are not represented,”  Manset said during his presentation. “By creating a student district, students will have an institutionalized seat on the council to represent them. Our plan has District 7 remain the student district but increase in size so that 86 percent of students live in the district.”

Mecklai said that if having a student council member is not possible, the council member elected should understand student issues and be in tune with issues in student life.

“If the student community is condensed to one district, students will have more of a voice on the council,” Efron said. “The student community should be seen as a community of interest because while crime has decreased in other districts, in the student community crime has remained the same.

UC Berkeley alumnus Alfred Twu also submitted a redistricting plan and said that a student district should be made so that students could have a voice on the council.  However, Sherry Smith, president of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville, said that other communities and neighborhoods should also be considered when redistricting rather than just the student community.

“I can see why students would want a student district because then they would have an impact on the council and the council member elected by them would be responsive to their needs,” Smith said. “However, there are other communities of interest, such as the West Berkeley neighborhood, that should be considered. So what the council must do is weigh all the submitted plans out and possibly merge some together to achieve what is best for the city of Berkeley.”

Berkeley City Council will meet again on May 7 to vote on a redistricting plan and will begin to modify and change the plan once it is chosen.

Contact Seif Abdelghaffar at sabdelghaffar@dailycal.org.

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Former external affairs vice president Joey Freeman and former SQUELCH! senator Noah Ickowitz, a former columnist for The Daily Californian, have jointly filed charges alleging that the ASUC Senate violated the ASUC Constitution in its passage of SB 160.

Ickowitz and Freeman filed the petition early Friday afternoon, and it is currently pending review. The charges, if accepted, would lead to a trial addressing the alleged violations of SB 160.

“I strongly believe the ASUC should follow the correct procedures in passing these bills,” Ickowitz said. “Because SB 160 has such an intense conversation around it, to not follow the procedures does a disservice to the campus.”

The root of the charges lies with the language of the bill, which Ickowitz said “presupposes that the bill has the authority to restrict spending and funding without having gone through appropriate channels.”

The charges begin with the fact that the bill was not passed with a two-thirds senate majority, which the ASUC Constitution states is required for deliberations regarding ASUC financial appropriations or revenue reductions.

They also argue that the bill “restricted” the ASUC’s investment practices, a responsibility that lies with the Investment Committee and requires consent from the Constitutional and Procedural Review Committee. The bill, with its “commanding” language, oversteps these bodies and “overextends the powers of the ASUC Senate without due process,” Ickowitz said.

In the charges, Ickowitz and Freeman suggest that SB 160 be sent back to the senate for a two-thirds vote to either follow or suspend the bylaws requiring review by these committees.

Before filing, Ickowitz and Freeman notified Student Action Senator George Kadifa and independent Senator Sadia Saifuddin, author and sponsor of SB 160, respectively, of their intent to petition the bill.

“I’m disappointed that the students who brought the charges didn’t bring these up earlier,” Kadifa said. “I’m a little curious, now that the bill has passed, why they’re bringing this up now. If the petition is accepted, we would rewrite the bill to ensure there are no violations.”

The petition has joined other suits that the ASUC Judicial Council must review in the coming weeks, including charges against Safeena Mecklai, a Student Action senator and external affairs vice president-elect.

ASUC Attorney General Hinh Tran said Ickowitz and Freeman raised some “interesting points,” noting that both of them have a “strong understanding of ASUC policies.” Tran said that should the petition be accepted and litigation begin, a trial would hopefully be scheduled before the end of the semester — if not, it might be held during the summer session.

Ickowitz said he felt that there was a “high likelihood the charges will be accepted,” emphasizing that the arguments were made on legal rather than ideological grounds. However, he did note that ideology was part of the impetus for filing.

Ickowitz pointed to the charges filed by Cooperative Movement Senator Jorge Pacheco and Student Action Senator Mihir Deo against ASUC President Connor Landgraf’s executive order to place the health and wellness referendum on the ballot as an example of people filing “that which is relevant to them.”

Notably, the senators did not charge the Class Pass referendum, even though it allegedly violated the same bylaws as the health and wellness referendum.

“When people sue over legislation, it’s not at all out of the ordinary that legislation is relevant to them,” Ickowitz said. “It’s also coupled with relevance to me and my community.”

View the petition evidence below:

Contact Sophie Ho at sho@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the petition as a charge sheet.

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DeeJay Pepito, president-elect from CalSERVE, said her first move will be to continue working to improve campus safety, especially with regard to sexual assault, considering that the ASUC Senate recently passed a bill expressing no confidence in the university’s sexual assault policies.

Pepito said she has already met with with her co-authors on the bill, SB 130, to talk about creating more resources for victims of sexual assault and clarify the reporting process, among other policy changes.

Another big issue Pepito must grapple with as president is that of the campus climate in light of the recent senate vote to divest from companies affiliated with the Israeli military. Grant Fineman, a recently elected senator from SQUELCH!, said the vote “disheartened” many within the Jewish community.

“There’s definitely some rebuilding to be done, especially because some people are not confident about the ASUC,” Fineman said.

As part of this rebuilding process, Pepito said she intends to establish a campus climate department within the ASUC to address these issues and create opportunities for disparate communities to collaborate with one another.

“Regardless of what ‘side’ students might identify with, there were people hurt, and there were people impacted on both sides of the issue,” Pepito said. “We want to stay away from framing this as a one-sided issue. This bill (SB 160) really highlights that there are still problems on our campus. We all need to take responsibility and accountability by taking responsibility for our actions and acknowledging that our words hurt others.”

Pepito will start shadowing current ASUC President Connor Landgraf in the coming weeks.

Executive Vice President-elect Nolan Pack of CalSERVE emphasized that he aims to work closely with the new senatorial class and will meet with senators individually before the end of the semester to build constructive relationships.

“For the past few years, the power dynamic has been such that executives believe they do not have to act at the direction of the senate, and the senate has been reluctant to exercise its power as the final legislative and administrative authority of the ASUC,” Pack said in an email. “Instead, the senate has assigned itself an unreasonable amount of administrative tasks. This has made the senate a structurally inefficient body.”

Pack said he hopes the senate will feel more comfortable in assigning more tasks to the executive slate, which will allow senators more time to work on platforms and community projects.

Valerie Jameson of CalSERVE and Safeena Mecklai of Student Action, academic affairs and external affairs vice presidential-elects respectively, echoed Pack’s sentiments. Both said they look forward to reaching out to the new senators. In the past, Jameson said she has seen a “strong disconnect” between the executive officers and senators.

“It’s twofold,” Jameson said. ”The senators have to keep the executives accountable, and the executives have to be out there and to help them in their ideas.” Along with reaching out to senators, Jameson said she will continue working on her textbook scholarship program.

Although Mecklai was the only Student Action candidate elected to executive office, neither she nor any of the other newly elected executive officials expressed concern over partisanship.

“The four of us want to do what’s best for the student body and are going to work well together,” Mecklai said. “I am not looking to the future as concern but as a challenge. There are a lot of external issues and so much to be done.”

Contact Sophie Ho at sho@dailycal.org.

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